Punjab and Haryana high court dismisses parole plea of Bheora

The plea was dismissed as the UT told the high court that the competent authority, the additional superintendent, model jail, Chandigarh, has declined the request since there is no provision under the Punjab Jail Manual or any rule vide which a convicted prisoner can be released to attend the wedding of relatives or friends.

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Paramjit Singh Bheora, one of the convicts in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination case.

A ‘niece’ is not defined in the definition of a family member as per the Act of 1962 and rules notified thereunder, it was informed.

The plea seeking parole to attend the wedding of his niece in Delhi on October 29, was taken up by the bench of justice Vinod S Bhardwaj.

The plea was dismissed as the UT told the high court that the competent authority, the additional superintendent, model jail, Chandigarh, has declined the request since there is no provision under the Punjab Jail Manual or any rule vide which a convicted prisoner can be released to attend the wedding of relatives or friends. A ‘niece’ is not defined in the definition of a family member as per the Act of 1962 and rules notified thereunder, it was informed. In view of this, the court dismissed his plea but with liberty to him to file a fresh petition. He is confined in Burail Jail.

Bheora, who headed terrorist organisation Babbar Khalsa International was convicted and awarded life imprisonment in March 2010 for the criminal conspiracy of killing the former CM in a car blast in August 1995 outside Punjab civil secretariat in 1995. Other convicts in the case include Jagtar Singh Hawara, Balwant Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Shamsher Singh.