Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday wrote to governor Gulab Chand Kataria, seeking 10-day parole for Beant Singh assassination convict Jagtar Singh Hawara to enable him to meet his ailing mother.
In his letter, Mann urged the governor, who is also the Chandigarh administrator, to consider the request on humanitarian and family grounds, stating that Hawara’s presence could be important for his mother’s care during her illness.
The move comes a month after the Punjab and Haryana high court directed the Chandigarh administration to take a time-bound decision on Hawara’s parole plea.
Mann’s intervention assumes political significance as he has been declared “anti-Guru” and “anti-Panth” by the Akal Takht, while the release of Hawara and other long-incarcerated Sikh prisoners remains a significant demand among sections of the Sikh community.
The SAD (Punar Surjit) in July had also urged the governor to grant parole to Hawara, while its youth wing visited his native village and met his family.
Hawara is serving imprisonment for the rest of his life at Delhi’s Mandoli jail for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995.
Last month, he approached the high court seeking directions to authorities to release him on parole for a period of four weeks so he could attend to his ailing 81-year-old mother, whose health, according to the plea, is stated to be rapidly deteriorating on account of advanced age-related physical and cognitive disorders.
In its July 6 order, the high court had directed the Chandigarh administration to submit its recommendations on the plea within four weeks, following which the authorities at Mandoli Jail will take a decision in two weeks based on these recommendations.Since the crime was committed in Chandigarh and the trial was held here, his parole request requires clearance from the Chandigarh administration.
In his letter to the governor, Mann appealed for the request to be considered sympathetically in accordance with the applicable rules, keeping in view the circumstances and the health of Hawara’s mother.
The chief minister also sought necessary action on the parole request, citing the sensitive nature of the matter and the family’s circumstances.