The Punjab Government on Tuesday opposed Beant Singh murder case convict Jagtar Singh Hawara’s petition seeking his transfer from Tihar Jail in the national capital to a jail in Punjab, saying he can’t be shifted to Punjab as he was tried in Chandigarh.
“In Punjab, he has no claim. If at all he is to be transferred, it is to the UT of Chandigarh," Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh told a Bench led by Justice BR Gavai, adding a similar petition filed by Hawara was dismissed by the Delhi High Court in 2018.
The Advocate General submitted that Hawara was tried in Chandigarh where he did a jail-break and the Punjab prison rules would not be applicable to Chandigarh.
Singh said Delhi had taken a stand that Hawara can’t be transferred to Punjab as it was a border state and that he can go back to Chandigarh.
The Bench asked the Centre and Delhi Government and Chandigarh Administration to respond in four weeks to Hawara’s petition seeking his transfer from Tihar Jail in the national capital to a jail in Punjab and posted the matter for hearing after four weeks.
Hawara (54) has sought his transfer to a Punjab jail on the 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 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.
As Chandigarh was not a party to the case, senior counsel Colin Gonsalves, representing Hawara, said he would implead the Chandigarh Administration. Gonsalves said Hawara had a 14-year-old daughter but he had no access to her. “All other convicts in the case are in Punjab,” he submitted.
The Centre was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
Former Punjab chief minister 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 Hawara in 2007 while co-accused Lakhwinder Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Shamsher Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment for hatching a conspiracy to assassinate the former chief minister.
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 last year issued notice to the Centre and governments of Delhi and Punjab on Hawara’s petition seeking his transfer from Tihar Jail in Delhi to a jail in Punjab.
Hawara – who escaped from high-security Burail jail on January 22, 2004 — was re-arrested after a year and put back in jail.
“Petitioner had 36 false cases foisted on him after the murder of Chief Minister Beant Singh. He has been acquitted in all, except one case. He is unable to attend the court proceedings on account of his incarceration in Delhi. He is not being produced in court and the proceedings are going on without him which is prejudicial to the petitioner,” Hawara submitted.
