Chandigarh, July 28
The pronouncement of the quantum of sentence in the Beant Singh assassination case was deferred to Monday following the alleged manhandling and roughing up of defence lawyers by the Burail jail staff and police today.

Iron curtain: Workers at the Burail Jail put blankets on the entry gate in a bid to prevent the media from covering the Beant Singh assassination trial proceedings in Chandigarh on Saturday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

The defence counsel told the mediapersons, waiting outside the jail premises, that they had boycotted the proceedings before the special CBI court as the treatment being meted out to them was not appropriate and in gross violation of the established norms of decency.

Defence lawyers A.S. Chahal and Arvind Thakur alleged that the jail staff misbehaved with them after frisking them in a completely uncivil manner. One defence lawyer, whose name was duly entered in the jail list, was reportedly told to move out of the court on the ground that he was not carrying his identity card.

“Given the circumstances, we felt it was best to boycott the court proceedings and expressed our inability to argue the case,” the lawyers said.

Meanwhile, an undaunted CBI counsel, S.K. Saxena, refused to comment on the defence lawyers’ allegations. He told the mediapersons that as the defence lawyers had boycotted the proceedings, the sentence would be pronounced on Monday at 11.30 am. He said: “We have demanded death penalty for the accused facing serious charges.”

Meanwhile, Navjot Singh’s counsel N.K. Minhas said a CBI team had taken his client to New Delhi at 6 am today. Navjot was acquitted yesterday. A warrant issued in 1995 against him by a Delhi Sessions court is pending and he has been taken to New Delhi in that connection.

The special court of R K Sondhi was all set to deliver the quantum of punishment to be given to the six men who were convicted yesterday, after an 11-year-long trial in the Beant Singh assassination case.

Jagtar Singh Hawara, Balwant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh were held guilty under Section 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

Another accused, Naseeb Singh, was convicted under the Explosives Substances Act.