SC defers hearing on Hawara’s petition for transfer to Punjab jail
The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred hearing on former Chief Minister Beant Singh murder convict Jagtar Singh Hawara’s plea seeking his transfer from Tihar jail to a prison in Punjab by two weeks.
Hawara — a Babbar Khalsa terrorist — is serving life term in the case related to the assassination of former CM Beant Singh in 1995. A Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice N Kotiswar Singh adjourned the hearing as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was not available.
The 55-year-old prisoner has sought his transfer to a Punjab jail on grounds that he demonstrated good conduct in jail, the crime was committed at a time of social unrest and his daughter lived in Punjab. He has contended that all co-accused involved in the jail break were in Punjab jails and the Director General (Prisons) recommended his transfer to a jail in Punjab almost eight years ago on October 7, 2016. He also claimed that there was not a single case pending against him in Delhi and that he was unable to attend proceedings in a case pending in Punjab.
Former CM Beant Singh and 16 others were killed on August 31, 1995 in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. Hawara was arrested on September 21, 1995.
A special CBI court had awarded the death sentence to Balwant Singh Rajoana and Jagtar Singh Hawaea in 2007 while o-accused Lakhwinder Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Shamsher Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment for hatching a conspiracy to assassinate the former CM.
However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in October 2010 modified Hawara’s sentence to life imprisonment for the rest of his life and the prosecution’s appeal against the high court’s order was pending in the Supreme Court. Rajoana’s mercy petition has been hanging fire for more than 12 years. The top court had on September 27, 2024, issued notice to the Centre, Delhi and Punjab on his petition seeking his transfer from Tihar Jail to a prsion in Punjab.
