E-Paper
22 Sikh prisoners, six of them convicts in Beant assassination case, are behind bars
In its recent communication to the Centre, the SGPC attached a list of nine Sikh prisoners, including six convicted for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have intensified their campaign for the release of 22 Sikh prisoners, who, they claim, are languishing in jails despite having served their sentences.
Their tirade, viewed by many as a desperate bid by the Akalis to resurrect their diminished standing in the Sikh constituency, has the potential to be a law and order flashpoint in Punjab.
Lodged in prisons of different states, they were convicted in terror cases. Eight of them have been in jail for 20 years or more. In its recent communication to the Centre, the SGPC attached a list of nine such prisoners, including six convicted for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
Though the Union government issued notification for the release of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and Gurdeep Singh Khera on the eve of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak last year, the governments of Delhi and Karnataka are yet to clear their files. HT looks at the prominent Sikh prisoners:
Gurdeep Singh Khera
A resident of Jallupur Khera village in Amritsar district, Gurdeep Singh Khera has been serving a life sentence for the last 32 years in a case registered under Sections 302, 307, 427, and 120-B of IPC and Sections of the TADA Act and 3 of Explosive Act, at Bidar (Karnataka). He was arrested in 1990 and was given a life term by a TADA Court, Karnataka, in 1991. He was in Karnataka’s Gulbarga jail from 1990 to June 2015 and then he was shifted to the Amritsar jail. He has been granted parole since 2016. The Union government issued notification for Khera’s release on the eve of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar
A resident of Dialpura Bhai Ka village in Bathinda district, Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar was a chemical engineering professor at Guru Nanak Engineering College, Ludhiana, before being convicted by a TADA court in the case of the killing of nine people and injuring 31, including Congress leader MS Bitta, in a bomb blast in 1993 in New Delhi. He was awarded the death sentence in 2001. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court on March 31, 2014. He has been in jail for the last 28 years and is currently in the Central Jail, Amritsar. Earlier, he was in the Tihar Jail, Delhi. The Union government issued a notification for his release on the eve of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. The writ petition for his release is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Balwant Singh Rajoana
A resident of Rajoana Kalan village, Ludhiana district, Balwant Singh Rajoana is a death row convict in the 1995 case of the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. A cop-turned-militant, he has been serving in jail for the last 27 years and is currently lodged in the Central Jail, Patiala. His death sentence was stayed by the Union home ministry by an order dated March 28, 2012. The Union government issued notification for converting his death sentence into life imprisonment on the eve of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. A writ petition for commuting the death sentence to a life sentence is pending in the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court in May 2022 directed the Centre to decide within two months Rajoana’s plea that his death penalty be commuted to life imprisonment on the ground of his long incarceration. However, the Centre has not decided yet.
Jagtar Singh Hawara
A resident of Hawara village in Fatehgarh Sahib district, Jagtar Singh Hawara has been a militant of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). In connection with the Beant Singh assassination case, he has been serving life imprisonment in the Tihar Jail, Delhi, for the last 27 years. In 2010, the Punjab and Haryana High Court commuted the death sentence awarded to Hawara, one of the prime accused in the assassination case, to life imprisonment. He along with the other two accused fled from the Burail Jail, Chandigarh, in 2004 and was re-arrested in 2005. Appeal pending in Supreme Court of India. Cases are also pending against him in Mohali and Chandigarh court
Lakhwinder Singh Lakha
A resident of Guru Nanak Nagar, Patiala, Lakhwinder Singh Lakha has been serving life imprisonment since 1995 in the Beant Singh assassination case and is lodged in the Model Jail, Burail, Chandigarh. He was part of the conspiracy of the assassination that was executed by suicide bomber Dilawar Singh. Lakha was a driver in the Punjab Police and was posted at the Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh, when the assassination took place. Under the plan of eliminating the CM, he was assigned to do a recce of the Civil Secretariat. This role helped execute the conspiracy. He has been granted parole many times.
Gurmeet Singh
A resident of Guru Nagar, Patiala, Gurmeet Singh is an engineer by profession. He has been serving life imprisonment for the last 27 years in the Beant Singh assassination case and is lodged in the Model Jail, Burail, Chandigarh. Being an engineer, he helped other convicts make a bomb that was used for killing the then CM. He came out of jail many times on parole. Writ petition for premature release is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Shamsher Singh
A resident of Ukasi Jattan village in Patiala district, Shamsher Singh has been serving life imprisonment in the Beant Singh assassination case for the last 27 years. He is currently lodged in the Model Jail, Burail, Chandigarh. He has also been granted parole many times. He was a truck driver by profession before the assassination and he along with the prime accused, Jagtar Singh Hawara, transported RDX from the India-Pakistan border in the Ajnala area of Amritsar district to Patiala and Ropar where it was kept for making the bomb.
Paramjit Singh Bheora
A resident of Bheora village in Ropar district, Paramjit Singh Bheora is another key convict in the Beant Singh assassination case. He was a member of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and an aide of prime convict Jagtar Singh Hawara. He has served 25 years in jail under a life sentence and is currently lodged in the Model Jail, Burail, Chandigarh. He remained in jail from 1997 to 2004 till a Burail jailbreak and he was re-arrested in 2006.
Jagtar Singh Tara
A resident of Dekwala village in Ropar, Jagtar Singh Tara has served 17 years in jail in the case Beant Singh assassination case and is currently lodged in the Model Jail, Burail, Chandigarh. After being arrested in 1995, he remained behind bars till 2004 when he along with other accused Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora fled from the Burail Jail. He was re-arrested after more than 10 years from Thailand and extradited to India. In December 2017, he confessed the crime in the District Court of Chandigarh and On March 17, 2018, he was awarded life imprisonment in the assassination case. One case at Patiala and two cases in Jalandhar are pending.
Daya Singh Lahoria
Former militant Daya Singh Lahoria is a resident of Kasba Bharal of Sangrur district. In a kidnapping case, he has been serving a jail term since 1995 under a life sentence. He has spent 27 years in jail. He was awarded life imprisonment by a Jaipur court in 2004 for abducting Rajendra Mirdha, the son of senior Rajasthan Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha. Lahoria and two others had allegedly abducted him with a view to pressurising the then Narasimha Rao government for releasing the 1993 Delhi blast accused Devendra Pal Singh Bhullar in 1994. He had fled to the United States. On March 20, 2009, Daya Singh Lahoria was extradited from the US. He is presently released on permanent parole since December 13, 2021. One case of 1987 is pending in Ludhiana. He is on bail in this case.
Harnek Singh Bhap
A resident Butahri in Ludhiana district, Harnek Singh Bhap is in jail since 2004. He spent 18 years in jail. Since 2021, he is being granted parole. He is a former militant of the Khalistan Liberation Force. He along with others abducted home minister Ram Niwas Mirdha’s son Rajinder Mirdha on February 17, 1995, for the release of the 1993 Delhi blast accused Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar.
