New Delhi, 13 October (H.S.): The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Delhi government to seek the opinion of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on a plea seeking the transfer of Jagtar Singh Hawara, convicted in the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, from Tihar Jail in Delhi to a prison in Punjab. A Bench comprising Justice M. M. Sundresh and Justice P. B. Varale heard the matter and scheduled the next hearing after four weeks.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati informed the court that Hawara had been involved in a prison escape and that his death sentence had subsequently been commuted to life imprisonment. She argued that transferring him to another prison could increase the risk of another escape. She also referred to the Union Home Ministry’s advisories concerning the transfer of high-risk prisoners.

Counsel representing Hawara submitted that his 82-year-old mother was critically ill and that he was seeking a transfer to a high-security prison in Punjab, not release from custody. The lawyer argued that Hawara, a native of Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab, should be transferred to a prison in his home state.

In response, the Supreme Court observed that when a person holds a particular ideology, it is difficult to predict when or how it might manifest itself. The Bench noted that Hawara’s behaviour might change and he might reform, but it was impossible to determine what circumstances could subsequently provoke him. The court emphasised that the objections raised by the Punjab government could not be ignored.

On September 27 last year, the Supreme Court had issued notices to the Central Government, the Chandigarh Administration, and the governments of Delhi and Punjab on Hawara’s plea.

Hawara is serving a life sentence in connection with the bomb blast that took place at the entrance to the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. The blast killed then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and 16 other people.

In March 2007, a trial court sentenced Hawara to death. However, in October 2010, the Punjab and Haryana High Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar