New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Delhi government to seek inputs from the Intelligence Bureau on Beant Singh murder convict Jagtar Singh Hawara’s plea seeking his transfer from Delhi’s Tihar jail to any prison in Punjab.
Hawara and Bheora were re-arrested within the next two years. Tara, a proclaimed offender in this case, was arrested from Thailand, while Devi Singh is absconding and has also been declared a proclaimed offender. The plea filed in the apex court said Hawara’s conduct in prison has been without blemish except for the jail break on January 22, 2004 when he had escaped and was later arrested.
It said he should be transferred from Tihar Jail in Delhi to any other prison in Punjab as there is no case pending against him in the national capital. “The question that arises in this case is whether a person who has been accused of committing a murder in the context of serious social upheaval where tens of thousands of young Sikhs were extra-judicially executed by the state police on the instructions of the deceased Chief Minister Beant Singh, which offence has been characterised as exacerbated by his unsuccessful jail break attempt, but who has for the last 19 years led a life in prison which is without blemish can seek an order from this court for transfer to a jail in Punjab,” the plea submitted.
The top court then remarked, “When you have an ideology..we dont know how it will emanate…Every sinner has a future..See people say if you kill one person you are a murderer and if you kill 1,000 persons you are a conqueror. On September 27 last year, the apex court issued notices to the Centre, Chandigarh administration and the Delhi and Punjab governments on Hawara’s plea. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Delhi government, informed the top court that Hawara was involved in a jailbreak and his death penalty was converted to life imprisonment in the murder case. He may mellow down and be a changed person but what may trigger him after that we cannot say. The apex court then posted the matter after four weeks.
So that is the difference.
