New Delhi: Jagtar Singh Hawara, a convict in the former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh assassination case, on Friday urged the top court to transfer him from Delhi's Tihar Jail to any other prison in Punjab.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan sought a response from the Centre, Delhi Government, and Punjab Government on Jagtar Singh Hawara's plea.
Jagtar Singh Hawara's plea, filed through advocate Satya Mitra, also sought to direct the respondents to produce in court the entire records of the petitioner regarding his conduct in prison during his incarceration till today.
Hawara is a life convict in the former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh assassination case and is serving a life term in Tihar Jail.
The petition stated that he is a convict prisoner lodged in Tihar Jail and that there is no case pending against him registered in the territory of Delhi. The petitioner is currently serving his life imprisonment for the rest of his life in a case registered in the State of Punjab. He is a native of the State of Punjab, Fatehgarh Sahib District, and ought to be confined in a prison in Punjab, the petition added.
Hawara was arrested on September 21, 1995, tried, and convicted for the murder of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and has remained in jail from the date of his arrest to this day; he has been incarcerated for over 28 years. The trial court, by order dated March 27, 2007, convicted Hawara and gave him the death sentence. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, by order dated October 12, 2010, modified the sentence to life imprisonment for the rest of his life. Appeals have been filed by the prosecution and Hawara in the Supreme Court, which are pending.
"His conduct in jail has been clear except for an alleged jailbreak that took place on January 22, 2004, when he escaped. He was caught approximately after one year and returned to prison in 2005. Since then, his performance in jail has been without any blemish. He is 54 years old today. The petitioner was incarcerated in jails in Punjab. After he was arrested in 2005, the petitioner was incarcerated in Tihar Jail, Delhi, where he remains to this day," the petition said.
"From the re-arrest of the petitioner after the jailbreak until today, 19 years have passed, and the performance of the petitioner in jail has been without blemish. The petitioner has sought a report of his conduct in prison in Delhi from the jail authorities, which is yet to be provided to him," the petition said.
"The question that arises in this case is whether a person who has been accused of committing murder in the context of serious social upheaval, where tens of thousands of young Sikhs were extrajudicially executed by the State Police on the instructions of the deceased Chief Minister Beant Singh--an offence characterised as exacerbated by his unsuccessful jailbreak attempt--but who has, for the last 19 years, led a life in prison that is without blemish, can seek an order from this court for transfer to a jail in Punjab. Also, what is important to note is that there is not a single case pending against the accused in Delhi," the petition said.
—ANI