Bhikhiwind (Amritsar), August 31
The Government of India has decided to take up the case of Sarbjit Singh, a resident of this border town who has been awarded death sentence by the supreme court of Pakistan for a crime which he did not commit.

Sarbjit Singh, a farm labourer, had wandered into Pakistan territory from here in an inebriated condition about 13 years ago. He was then implicated in the serial bomb blasts that occurred in Pakistan reportedly engineered by Manjit Singh in 1990. Sarbjit Singh was awarded death sentence as he could not establish his identity despite furnishing credible evidence.

On the request of Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Minister for Fertilizers and Chemicals, Mr Vinod Khanna, Minister of State for External Affairs, has decided to take up the case with his Pakistani counterpart seeking clemency for Sarbjit Singh as he was not involved in any crime committed in Pakistan.

Earlier, Mr Sital Kaler, case coordinator, South Asian Human Rights Group of Canada, briefed about his recent meeting with Sarbjit Singh in Kot Lakhpat Rai Jail in Lahore to Mr Dhindsa, Mr Khanna and Mr Tarlochan Singh Chairman National Commission for Minorities. Mr Kaler told them that Sarbjit Singh had been languishing in the death cell of Central Jail of Lahore as the Indian Government had failed to plead his case properly.

Mr Vinod Khanna assured Mr Kaler that the Government of India would also take up the case of three Punjabis who had taken refuge in Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore. These youths were duped by travel agents and landed in Pakistan after their deportation from Turkey.

Talking to TNS from Lahore, Rana Abdul Hamid, senior lawyer of the supreme court, said on behalf of the South Asian Human Rights Group of Canada, a mercy petition would be filed on September 10 when the apex court reopened after a vacation. He said the case of Sarbjit Singh was a fit case of mistaken identity and the supreme court was likely to consider it sympathetically. He said the judgment of the supreme court awarding death sentence to Sarbjit Singh was faulty as the public prosecutor had failed to plead the case properly. Mr Rana said the confessional statement, recorded by a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code, was under coercion as Sarbjit Singh feared that the intelligence agencies would give him trouble if he (Sarbjit Singh) continued to insist that he was not Manjit Singh as claimed by them (Pakistan’s intelligence agencies). Mr Rana said it would be cruelty to humanity if Sarbjit Singh was hanged to death for the crime (serial blasts) which he had not committed.