Beant Singh assassination: State opposes Hawara’s plea in SC for transfer to Punjab jail
Punjab advocate general says Hawara was relying on state prison manual, which was not applicable to him as he was tried in Chandigarh and was lodged in a jail there
The Punjab government on Tuesday opposed in the Supreme Court a plea by Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is serving life term in the killing of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995, seeking his transfer from Delhi’s Tihar jail to any prison in Punjab. The submissions were made before a bench of justices BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran.
The counsel appearing for Punjab informed the bench that Hawara was earlier lodged in a Chandigarh jail. The bench asked senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Hawara, whether the Union Territory of Chandigarh was made a party respondent in the plea. Gonsalves said he would implead Chandigarh as a party respondent.
While granting leave to implead Chandigarh in the matter, the bench issued notice to the UT administration seeking its response on Hawara’s plea within four weeks.
Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh said Hawara filed a plea in the Delhi high court in 2018 seeking similar relief but it was dismissed.
He said Hawara was relying on the Punjab prison manual, which was not applicable to him as he was tried in Chandigarh and was lodged in a jail there.
“In Punjab, he has no claim. If at all he is to be transferred, it is to the UT Chandigarh,” Singh said.
Gonsalves said Hawara’s limited prayer sought a transfer to any prison in Punjab. He said Hawara’s only family member was his daughter who resided in Punjab.
In September last year, the apex court sought responses from the Centre and others on Hawara’s plea.
Hawara is serving life imprisonment for the rest of his life in the case related to the murder of Beant Singh in a blast at the entrance of the civil secretariat at Chandigarh on August 31, 1995, in which 16 others were also killed.
The plea filed in the apex court said Hawara’s conduct in prison was clear except for an alleged Burail (Chandigarh) jailbreak which took place on January 22, 2004, when he escaped and was arrested later.
The plea, filed through advocate Satya Mitra, sought Hawara’s jail transfer saying there was no case pending against him which was registered in the national capital.
It said since Hawara’s re-arrest after the jailbreak till today, 19 years had passed and the performance of the petitioner in jail was unblemished.
The petitioner, said the plea, had 36 false cases after the murder of Beant Singh and he was acquitted in all except the one case.
The plea said one of the similarly placed persons was convicted in the same murder case and was also part of the jailbreak, was shifted from Tihar jail to a jail in Chandigarh.
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 should not be released for the rest of his life.
Hawara’s petition said the appeals filed by him and by the prosecution against the high court verdict were pending in the apex court.
