Chandigarh: The Raaghav Dar-directed docuseries ‘Lawrence of Punjab’ has run into controversy days before it is slated to be released on 27 April.
Based on the life of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, the docuseries tracks his journey from college student to gangster.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring Tuesday issued a legal notice to Zee5, the platform on which the docuseries is set to be telecast.
In a video message on X, Warring said ‘Lawrence of Punjab’ should be banned from being telecast as it was trying to defame Punjab. He said Bishnoi was from Rajasthan and not Punjab, and to add the word ‘Punjab’ in the title was a campaign run by the government of India to defame Punjab and project it as a land of gangsters and criminals.
He said he would move the Punjab and Haryana High Court to get a stay on the release of ‘Lawrence of Punjab’.
He added that the series on Bishnoi was also an attempt to glorify gangsters and would adversely impact school and college students.
Warring pointed out that Bishnoi and his gang had claimed responsibility for the killing of singer Sidhu Moosewala and the state continued to reel under his gang’s criminal activities.
The trailer of ‘Lawrence of Punjab’ was released on 19 April and has clocked almost 4.7 million views so far. The docuseries is produced by Raghav Khanna who is also the showrunner.
Bishnoi is wanted in multiple cases across the country and was arrested in 2014. Since 2023, he has been in a Sabarmati jail in Gujarat for alleged involvement in a Rs 195-crore drug smuggling case being investigated by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad.
As per a Ministry of Home Affairs order under Section 268(1) of the CrPC, he cannot be transferred from the jail even for interrogation purposes by other law enforcement agencies. The Centre has been accused of “shielding” Bishnoi.
Bishnoi is wanted in Canada due to his gang’s alleged involvement in violent transnational crimes, including murder, extortion, and intimidation targeting South Asian community members. Canada has designated the Bishnoi gang a terrorist entity due to these activities and allegations that the group is used to target Khalistani separatists in Canada.
Bishnoi was interviewed by a TV channel in 2022 while he was in custody in a police station in Punjab. Multiple police officers in Punjab are facing investigation for having facilitated the interview after the Punjab in Haryana High Court took suo moto cognizance of the matter.
Warring has also sent a legal notice addressed to Akshaya Joshi, Zee5’s grievance officer, asking the channel to immediately suspend or defer the release of the series for violation of IT Rules 2021 and for allegedly threatening public order.
The notice posted on X states: “It has come to my knowledge from promotional material and credible public sources that the said series is purportedly based on the life and activities of a notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, involved in organised criminal networks against whom multiple, serious criminal proceedings are pending before competent courts,” writes Warring.
“The description (on Zee5.com webpage) of the web series itself shows that it would be glorifying the life of a gangster which would amount to promotion of unlawful activities… The proposed portrayal, by dramatising the life of a criminal figure, runs the real risk of romanticising and legitimising criminal conduct…”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)