Indian govt seeks to block access to Khalistani activist Nijjar's shooting video, YouTube obliges: Report

Days after Canadian national public broadcaster CBC released a footage of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's fatal killing, the Centre reportedly asked video streaming site YouTube to ban the video from viewing in India, a report claimed.

YouTube has agreed to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's (MeitY) demand, and blocked access to the video for viewing in India, CBC reported Wednesday. Furthermore, social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, also got a MeitY notice, said CBC, seeking legal removal of the footage.

ETOnline has not verified this report independently.


Relations between India and Canada took a turn for the worse in 2023 after the Justin Trudeau government accused India's involvement in the killing of Nijjar, an individual designated as a terrorist by the Asian nation in 2020 due to his involvement in Anti-India activities. India termed Canada's allegations as 'absurd and motivated'.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Canada has not been able to present any evidence to back its claims over the killing.

Nijjar was shot and killed by 'contractual killers', as the report pegs it, as he came out of a Gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023. The footage, which is available for view in every country on YouTube except India, reportedly shows Nijjar leaving the parking lot of the Gurdwara in his grey Dodge Ram pickup truck.

The video has been obtained by The Fifth Estate and has been independently verified by more than one source said CBC news. The attack that is described as being 'highly coordinated' involved six men and two vehicles.