New Delhi, Oct 13 The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Delhi government to seek inputs from the Intelligence Bureau on Beant Singh murder convict Jagtar Singh Hawara’s plea seeking his transfer from Delhi’s Tihar jail to any prison in Punjab.
The Babbar Khalsa terrorist is serving life term in the case related to the killing of the former Punjab chief minister in 1995.
A bench comprising justices M M Sundresh and PB Varale said these are sensitive matters and it was not in a position to go against the advice of the state government.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Delhi government, informed the top court that Hawara was involved in a jailbreak and his death penalty was converted to life imprisonment in the murder case.
Contending that transfer may increase chances of his escape, Bhati referred to an advisory by the Ministry of Home Affairs on transfer of high risk prisoners.
She also referred to an affidavit filed by the Punjab government, and said law and order situation in Punjab will be affected if he is transferred.
Bhati said Hawara has been convicted in a case for digging a tunnel in the Chandigarh jail.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Hawara, submitted that the CM was assassinated 31 years ago when he was just 21 years old.
“My mother is very old, 82 years old and in serious condition. He is seeking transfer to Punjab high security prison and not going to be released,” Gonsalves said adding that he has an unblemished record in jail.
The top court then remarked, “When you have an ideology..we dont know how it will emanate…Every sinner has a future..See people say if you kill one person you are a murderer and if you kill 1,000 persons you are a conqueror. So that is the difference. He (Hawara) may mellow down and be a changed person but what may trigger him after that we cannot say.”
The apex court then posted the matter after four weeks.
On September 27 last year, the apex court issued notices to the Centre, Chandigarh administration and the Delhi and Punjab governments on Hawara’s plea.
Hawara is serving imprisonment for the rest of his life in the case related to the blast at the entrance of the civil secretariat at Chandigarh on August 31, 1995 in which Beant Singh and 16 more people were killed.
The plea filed in the apex court said Hawara’s conduct in prison has been without blemish except for the jail break on January 22, 2004 when he had escaped and was later arrested. It said he should be transferred from Tihar Jail in Delhi to any other prison in Punjab as there is no case pending against him in the national capital.
Hawara, Paramjit Singh Bheora, Tara and a murder convict Devi Singh had escaped from Chandigarh’s high-security Burail Jail in January 2004 by digging a nearly 100-feet long tunnel.
Hawara and Bheora were re-arrested within the next two years. Tara, a proclaimed offender in this case, was arrested from Thailand, while Devi Singh is absconding and has also been declared a proclaimed offender.
“Petitioner (Hawara) is currently serving his life imprisonment till the rest of his life in a case registered in the state of Punjab… He is a native of state of Punjab, Fatehgarh Sahib district, and ought to be confined in a prison in Punjab,” it said.
According to the plea, the petitioner had 36 false cases against him after the murder of Beant Singh and he has been acquitted in all except one. One person convicted in the same case and also part of the jail break has been shifted from Tihar to a jail in Chandigarh, it said.
“The mere fact that the petitioner was considered a high-risk prisoner years ago is not a good enough reason today to keep the prisoner in Delhi and not shift him to Punjab,” it said, adding his daughter is in Punjab.
“The question that arises in this case is whether a person who has been accused of committing a murder in the context of serious social upheaval where tens of thousands of young Sikhs were extra-judicially executed by the state police on the instructions of the deceased Chief Minister Beant Singh, which offence has been characterised as exacerbated by his unsuccessful jail break attempt, but who has for the last 19 years led a life in prison which is without blemish can seek an order from this court for transfer to a jail in Punjab,” the plea submitted.
In March 2007, Hawara was sentenced to death by a trial court in the case.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court in October 2010 commuted his sentence to life imprisonment with a direction that he shall not be released from jail for the rest of his life.
Hawara’s petition said the appeals filed by him as well as by the prosecution against the high court verdict are pending in the apex court.
(PTI News)
