Plea for release of Sikh prisoners withdrawn

Former IAS officer Narinder Singh on Friday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court for the release of six Sikhs arrested during militancy in Punjab but the petition was dismissed as withdrawn, since he didn't name any. The public-interest petition asks for the release of six prisoners for whose freedom former militant Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa is on an indefinite fast in Ambala.

Former IAS officer Narinder Singh on Friday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court for the release of six Sikhs arrested during militancy in Punjab but the petition was dismissed as withdrawn, since he didn't name any. The public-interest petition asks for the release of six prisoners for whose freedom former militant Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa is on an indefinite fast in Ambala.

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The petitioner has argued that the government is following a pick-and-choose policy in remitting the sentence of those who had completed minimum term; as the six men whom Khalsa wants freed have served 18 to 19 years in jail, more than the normal life sentence.

"We will file a fresh petition next week," said Ranjan Lakhanpal, lawyer representing the case.