The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Centre and the governments of Delhi and Punjab on a petition filed by Jagtar Singh Hawara – currently serving life imprisonment at Tihar jail in the 1995 murder case involving former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh – to be shifted to a Punjab jail.
Hawara, 54, who has already undergone 28 years of incarceration, told the top court that his daughter stays in Punjab along with his extended family and a case pending against him in a Punjab court cannot be prosecuted effectively by his lawyer who cannot travel to Delhi before every date.
The bench, headed by justice Bhushan R Gavai, issued notice on Hawara’s petition. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves and advocate Satya Mitra represented the convict. The bench, also comprising justice KV Viswanathan, granted four weeks for the respective governments to file responses.
Hawara was arrested on September 21, 1995, for being part of the conspiracy to assassinate the former CM after a bomb blast at the secretariat complex in Chandigarh. A trial court awarded him death penalty in 2007 but the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2010 commuted it to life sentence, requiring him to spend the rest of his life in prison. His appeal against the HC order is still pending before the top court.
In his petition, Hawara said that being a high-risk prisoner cannot be a ground to keep him confined to Delhi jail when no case against him is pending here. He pointed out that several high-risk prisoners such as Gurdeep Singh Khera and Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, who have been arrested under anti-terror laws, were originally incarcerated in Delhi and subsequently transferred to Punjab prisons.
{{/usCountry}}In his petition, Hawara said that being a high-risk prisoner cannot be a ground to keep him confined to Delhi jail when no case against him is pending here. He pointed out that several high-risk prisoners such as Gurdeep Singh Khera and Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, who have been arrested under anti-terror laws, were originally incarcerated in Delhi and subsequently transferred to Punjab prisons.
{{/usCountry}}Hawara’s wife has passed away while his daughter, who is now 19, stays in Punjab along with his extended family. Following the killing, nearly 36 cases were lodged against him in Punjab. While he has been acquitted in 35 of them, in the one case that remains, Hawara cited his inability to attend the court proceedings.
Even his lawyer is 82 years old and unable to travel to Delhi for consultations. Initially following his arrest, he was lodged in a Punjab jail. In 2004, he escaped from jail and was caught after nearly one year. Following his re-arrest, he was shifted to Tihar. Since then, his conduct in jail has been without any blemish, Hawara added.
Earlier this week, the top court had issued notice on the petition of another convict in the Beant Singh murder case – Balwant Singh Rajoana, a sympathiser of the Babbar Khalsa militant group – to commute his death sentence to life term.