SC notice to Delhi Govt on Hawara’s plea seeking transfer from Tihar Jail

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Centre and governments of Delhi and Punjab on Beant Singh murder case convict Jagtar Singh Hawara’s petition seeking his transfer from Tihar Jail in the national capital to any jail in Punjab.

A Bench led by Justice BR Gavai asked them to respond to Hawara’s petition which also sought a direction to produce in court the entire records regarding “his conduct in prison during his incarceration till today”. It posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

In an apparent reference to the January 22, 2004, jailbreak incident in which Hawara had escaped from high security Burail jail, Justice Gavai asked senior counsel Colin Gonsalves, who represented the petitioner, “How were you able to dig such a large hole in the jail?”

Gonsalves said 20 years have passed since that incident and almost 30 years since the assassination.

Hawara (54) – who was re-arrested after a year and put back in jail – submitted that since then his performance in jail has been without any blemish. 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. Hawara also claimed that there was not a single case pending against him in Delhi.

“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. The petitioner 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.

“Two of the co-accused against whom it is alleged that they successfully did a jailbreak, i.e. Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh Bheora are even today in custody in Punjab,” his petition read.

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 a 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. On Tuesday, the top court asked the Centre and the Punjab government to respond to Rajoana’s petition for commutation of his death penalty on the ground the Centre has failed to take a decision on his March 25, 2012, mercy petition till date. On May 3, 2023, it had refused to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment and asked the Centre to take decision on his mercy plea “as and when it is deemed necessary”. Rajoana’s fresh petition will be taken up for hearing on November 4.