Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday met Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to seek 10 days’ parole for Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is serving a sentence in connection with the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
The meeting, held at the Governor’s residence, lasted around 30 minutes and speaking to reporters afterwards, Mann said he was hopeful that Hawara would be granted parole soon.
Mann said the request was being made on humanitarian grounds, particularly because of Hawara’s elderly mother and according to the Chief Minister, Hawara’s mother has been waiting to see her son for 31 years.
“We are only seeking his parole on humanitarian grounds,” Mann said, adding that Hawara’s mother is very old and in a weak condition and he said the family had told him that although she is physically frail, she still responds when Hawara’s name is mentioned.
Mann said he had requested Governor Kataria to grant Hawara 10 days’ parole and said the Governor assured him that the relevant papers would be sent to the Union Home Secretary as soon as possible, the Chief Minister also said he had given an assurance regarding the law-and-order situation in Punjab if Hawara is released on parole.
“I have assured the Governor that there would be no law-and-order problem in the state when Hawara comes out on parole,” Mann said and according to Mann, there would be no sloganeering or disruption during Hawara’s parole and said associates of Hawara and Sikh organisations associated with his family had also given similar assurances.
Jagtar Singh Hawara was involved in the assassination of Beant Singh, who was Punjab Chief Minister at the time. Beant Singh was killed in a bomb blast outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995 and Hawara was subsequently convicted in the case. He has spent most of the period since then in custody, apart from a few months when he escaped from Delhi’s high-security Tihar Jail.
He is currently lodged in a jail in Delhi.
Mann had earlier written to Governor and Wednesday’s meeting came days after Mann wrote to Governor Kataria seeking 10 days’ parole for Hawara. The Chief Minister’s latest move comes amid wider discussions around Sikh and Panthic politics in Punjab and the issue has also emerged in the backdrop of recent statements and political developments involving different Akali factions and Sikh organisations.
Mann has reiterated that the Punjab government was committed to maintaining law and order while seeking Hawara’s parole on humanitarian grounds, but the final decision on the parole will involve the competent authorities at the Centre.