Capt seeks release of TADA convict

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 18

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday wrote to his Karnataka counterpart HD Kumaraswamy for the premature release of militant Gurdeep Singh Khera on the basis of his good conduct.

Capt Amarinder Singh has asked Kumaraswamy to sympathetically consider the case of Khera, currently serving a double life sentence in Amritsar Central Jail after having been transferred from Karnataka’s Gulberg jail in 2015.

An official spokesperson said Capt sought the Karnataka CM’s intervention in advising the Prisons Department of his state to reconsider the matter as Gurdeep has been languishing in jail for the last 25 years under various sections of the IPC and the TADA Act after being convicted in Delhi and Bidar bomb blast cases.

The District Magistrate, Amritsar, had earlier taken up the case with the Karnataka government, which had intimated their inability under existing guidelines.

Meanwhile, Capt Amarinder has also written to Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje for expediting the transfer of Sikh political prisoner Harnek Singh Bhap, currently lodged in Central Jail, Jaipur, to a suitable prison in Punjab. He pointed out that the Director General of Rajasthan Police had already forwarded his recommendation to the Department of Home in June this year and the final approval was awaited.

With the intervention of minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa a few days ago, a meeting had taken place between Capt Amarinder and a delegation, led by parallel Jathedar Baljit Singh Daduwal, who has been seeking the release of 20 Sikh prisoners who have served their sentences.

Out of the total 20 prisoners, six are lodged in Delhi, UPand Rajasthan jails and 14 are lodged in Punjab jails. The government is also contemplating to set up a parole board for releasing prisoners, who have completed their term, on parole. The Home Department has been asked to examine the proposal.

Ensure Afghan Sikhs’ safety, Swaraj urged

Chandigarh: CM Capt Amarinder Singh has urged External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to ensure the safety of Sikhs settled in Afghanistan. In a letter, the CM said measures aimed at security, relief and rehabilitation of violence-hit Sikh families in Afghanistan needed to be pursued at the level of MEA. He pointed out that about 40 families had migrated to Ludhiana from Afghanistan in 2012. Twenty of them had returned. The issues concerning these families needed to be attended on priority, he said. tns