Tableau depicting Indira Gandhi’s killing does not qualify as hate crime, Canada Police say

Canada’s law enforcement agency has said that the tableau celebrating the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at a parade in Brampton city of Ontario province does not qualify as a hate crime, the Hindustan Times reported on Saturday.

“The police have looked at the video and it is their determination that it does not constitute a hate crime,” Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said in a statement.

A video shot at a parade in Brampton city on June 4 showed a tableau in which a statue depicting Gandhi was seen in a blood-stained white saree while turban-clad men point guns at her. A poster on the tableau read: “Revenge for attack on Shri Darbar Sahib”.

The placard referred to Gandhi’s decision to order security forces to storm the Golden Temple – one of the most significant shrines for Sikhs – after separatist leader Jarnail Bhindranwale took refuge in the Gurudwara complex in 1984. Two years later, Gandhi was shot dead by two of her Sikh bodyguards.

India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had criticised Canada over the incident and said that the North American country was giving space to separatists.

Canadian High Commissioner to India Cameron MacKay had said that he was appalled by the event. “There is no place in Canada for hate or for the glorification of violence,” he had said in a tweet. “I categorically condemn these activities.”

On Saturday, Brown clarified that the tableau was not part of any function organised by the Brampton city’s council and neither he was present in it.

The mayor, however, added that Canadians are guaranteed freedom of thought, belief and expression under Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Canada’s foreign ministry told the Hindustan Times that the government has nothing further to add to what McKay had said in the tweet.