Randeep Hooda fulfils his promise to Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh; performs her last rites

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, June 27

Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarabjit Singh who succumbed to injuries after being beaten up by inmates in a Pakistan jail in 2013, died on Sunday. She was 67. Hearing the news, Randeep Hooda immediately left from Mumbai to fulfil his promise of perform her last rites.

In 2017, Dalbir Kaur had asked Randeep Hooda, who portrayed her brother Sarabjit Singh in the biopic ‘Sarbjit’, to offer his shoulder to carry her body when she dies.

"I would like to tell Randeep that I have truly seen Sarabjit in him. I have a wish and I would like to take a promise from him that when I die, he should definitely give me 'kandha' (shoulder). My soul will receive peace that Sarabjit gave me 'kandha'," Dalbir Kaur said at an event which remembered Sarabjit on his third death anniversary.

While Randeep had played the role of her brother Sarabjit Singh in the biopic, the role of Dalbir was played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

The actor made sure to be present at the funeral on Sunday. He did as he promised where he not just gave ‘kandha’ to her but also lit the pyre.

For the unversed, Sarbjit Singh was a farmer from Bhikhiwind town in Punjab, who used to live near the India-Pakistan border, who mistakenly crossed over the border after having a couple of drinks. Sarabjit was convicted of terrorism and spying by a Pakistani court and was sentenced to death in 1991. However, the Pakistani government had stayed his execution for an indefinite period in 2008.

Singh was kept in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore for 22 years and after that, he was beaten up by his inmates and was taken to hospital. Singh was declared dead by doctors at Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital after being comatose for five days due to severe injuries in the head after an attack on him on the jail premises in 2013.

During his 22 years in jail, his older sister Dalbir Kaur waged an intense battle to bring her brother back to India. She always insisted that her brother was innocent and had strayed into Pakistan by mistake. She also went to Pakistan to see her brother. Not only that, she also fought for his daughters. She managed to get a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the family, besides government jobs for both daughters of Sarabjit Singh.

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