UT police petition seeking Tara’s custody dismissed

Aneesha Sareen

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 27

The Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal today dismissed the revision petition moved by the UT police, seeking the custody of Beant Singh’s assassin Jagtar Singh Tara. He was arrested 11 years after he made the sensational escape from Burail Jail in 2004.

The Chandigarh Police had filed the petition against the order of the duty magistrate who had declined the police custody of Tara on February 17.

While dismissing the petition today, the court stated that it could safely be concluded that the order declining police remand was a purely interlocutory order against which a revision was not maintainable. The police had sought his 14-day custody to interrogate him in the Burail Jailbreak Case, in which he was a Proclaimed Offender since 2004. They also wanted to interrogate him on other anti-national activities that Tara too part in after escaping from Burail Jail.

The defence counsel had pleaded that the revision petition was not maintainable as the then additional sessions judge in 2005 discharged all the accused from offences of waging war against the country in Burail Jailbreak Case and he was already bailed out in the jailbreak case last week.

The court held that it cannot overlook the order dated April 11, 2005 of the court of then ADJ Balbir Singh, affirmed by the High Court vide which it was stated that “even then, no prima-facie case is made out for framing charge against the absentee accused, Jagtar Singh Hawara, Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh under Section 121 IPC. In my view, from the facts of this case, it does not appear that a prima-facie case is made out for framing charge with the allegations that the escapee accused made an attempt of waging war,” said the court while quoting the order in which the accused were discharged from waging war against the country in 2005.

“It is not disputed that an order granting bail to the respondent has been passed by JMIC on February 17 this year itself. The order granting bail has not been challenged. Once the concession has been extended, the maintainability of the revision petition against the order declining police remand would come into question,” said the court. “Jurisdiction in revision has to be exercised only when there is a glaring defect in the procedure or manifest error on point of law. The revision petition is, therefore, dismissed,” said the court in the order passed today.

Tara, who was facing trial for killing former CM Beant Singh, had escaped after digging a 109-feet-long tunnel.