New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred, till February 2027, the hearing on a plea filed by Jagtar Singh Hawara, a convict in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, seeking his transfer from Delhi’s Tihar Jail to a prison in Punjab, after taking note of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report flagging potential law and order concerns and its possible impact on the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.
A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Prasanna B. Varale was informed by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, that the IB had expressed reservations about shifting Hawara to Punjab, describing him as a high-risk prisoner.
The intelligence agency raised serious concerns that his transfer could have significant repercussions for the law and order situation in Punjab and influence the political atmosphere ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for early next year.
Taking note of the report, the Justice Sundresh-led Bench observed that its contents were serious and expressed concern over the possible repercussions of passing an order in the matter at the present stage.
Senior advocate S. Muralidhar, appearing for Hawara, opposed the Centre’s position that Tihar Jail was better equipped to accommodate high-security prisoners. He also urged the apex court to at least permit Hawara to meet his ailing mother.
However, the Justice Sundresh-led Bench observed that the top court would ordinarily have no objection to allowing jail visits. However, it said the IB report was “very damning”, particularly in view of the prevailing circumstances and the possible impact of any judicial order on the forthcoming elections.
Muralidhar subsequently suggested that the matter could be taken up after three months, once the elections were over. The apex court accepted the suggestion and deferred the hearing to the week commencing February 22, 2027.
The matter was earlier taken up on October 13, when the Centre told the Supreme Court that a decision on Hawara’s proposed transfer could not be taken without obtaining inputs from the Intelligence Bureau.
The Justice Sundresh-led Bench had asked ASG Bhati, the Centre’s law officer, to seek the IB’s views on whether it would be prudent to transfer Hawara to a prison in Punjab.
Hawara was convicted in connection with the August 1995 assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was killed along with 16 others in a bomb blast outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh. Several others were injured in the attack.
In July 2007, a trial court convicted Hawara and other accused in the case. He was initially awarded the death penalty, which was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in December 2010. The transfer plea comes amid separate efforts by the Punjab government to secure temporary parole for Hawara on humanitarian grounds to enable him to meet his elderly and ailing mother.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had approached Governor Gulab Chand Kataria seeking his intervention for granting 10-day parole to Hawara, assuring that the state government would take responsibility for maintaining law and order during any such visit.
(IANS)
