CHANDIGARH (The Thursday Times) — A child rights group has filed a complaint with Punjab authorities after the two-and-a-half-year-old brother of late Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was filmed making gunshot-like gestures on stage at a concert in Toronto.
Lawyers for Human Rights International (LFHRI), a Chandigarh-based organisation, filed the complaint on 17 October with the Mansa Deputy Commissioner and the District Child Protection Unit, seeking an inquiry into the child’s welfare and counselling for his parents. The complaint was filed by the organisation’s general secretary and lawyer, Navkiran Singh.
The toddler, Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu, was brought on stage alongside his parents, Balkaur Singh and Charan Kaur, during the opening show of the “Signed to God World Tour” at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on 9 October. The tour recreates Moosewala’s performances using 3D holographic projections, his recorded voice and archival visuals. Footage from the show showed the child imitating his late brother’s signature “thaapi,” or thigh-slap, gesture to loud cheers from the crowd, before also appearing to mimic a pistol-firing motion and gunfire sounds while people around him looked on.
LFHRI said the footage, which circulated widely on social media, raised concerns under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, and cited a separate video it said showed adults teaching or encouraging the child to make the gesture. The organisation argued that repeated exposure to violent imagery at a young age risks normalising violent behaviour in children, a concern it said was heightened given that Moosewala himself was shot dead near Jawaharke village in Mansa district on 29 May 2022.
The group said its objective was to protect the toddler’s welfare and safety, not to punish the family or seek any change in custody.
