Today, On 27th September, Jagtar Singh Hawara, a convict in the Beant Singh assassination case, has requested the Supreme Court to transfer him from Tihar Jail to a prison in Punjab. Hawara cited personal reasons for the transfer plea. The case is currently under the court’s consideration. His request highlights ongoing concerns about prison conditions and inmate rights.
New Delhi: Jagtar Singh Hawara, convicted in the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, requested the Supreme Court on Friday to transfer him from Delhi’s Tihar Jail to a prison in Punjab.
A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan asked for a response from the Centre, as well as the Delhi and Punjab governments, regarding Hawara’s petition. Filed by advocate Satya Mitra, the plea also requests that the respondents submit Hawara’s complete prison records, including his conduct during his incarceration, to the court.
Hawara is currently serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail for his involvement in Beant Singh’s assassination.
The petition highlights that Jagtar Singh Hawara currently imprisoned in Tihar Jail despite having no pending cases in Delhi.
It states that he is serving a life sentence for a case originating in Punjab and, as a native of Fatehgarh Sahib District in Punjab,
“He ought to be confined in a prison in Punjab.”
Hawara arrested on September 21, 1995, and has been incarcerated for over 28 years following his conviction for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. The trial court sentenced him to death on March 27, 2007, but the Punjab and Haryana High Court later commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on October 12, 2010.
Both the prosecution and Hawara filed appeals in the Supreme Court, which are still pending.
The petition states that Jagtar Singh Hawara’s conduct in prison has been “clear,” except for an alleged jailbreak on January 22, 2004, after which he escaped but was recaptured about a year later and returned to prison in 2005.
Since then, the petition emphasizes,
“His performance in jail has been without any blemish.”
Now 54 years old, Hawara initially incarcerated in Punjab jails but has been held in Tihar Jail, Delhi, since his re-arrest in 2005.
The petition notes,
“For the last 19 years, from his re-arrest after the jailbreak until today, his conduct in jail has been without blemish,”
Adding that Hawara sought a report on his prison conduct from the jail authorities, which has not yet been provided.
The petition raises a key question,
“Whether a person accused of committing murder during a period of serious social unrest where tens of thousands of young Sikhs were extrajudicially executed by State Police under the orders of the deceased Chief Minister Beant Singh can seek a transfer to a Punjab prison, particularly when no cases are pending against him in Delhi and despite the earlier jailbreak.”