On August 21, several cities of Punjab woke up to a complete shutdown in support of a call to release Sikh convicts lodged in different jails across the country.
Popularly called “Bandi Singhs”, the prisoners were convicted and sentenced by different courts for their involvement in the Punjab militancy during the 1980s and 1990s. Some of them are serving life sentences.
The call for a statewide shutdown had come from Qaumi Insaaf Morcha, a Sikh advocacy group that has fought for the release of the prisoners for decades.
At the centre of the Morcha’s agitation is Jagtar Singh Hawara, a man convicted for the assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
Hawara and Balwant Singh Rajoana, both members of the banned militant group Babbar Khalsa, were sentenced to death by a trial court in 2007 for carrying out a bomb blast outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh in 1995. Along with the chief minister, the blast had also killed 16 people. Hawara’s sentence was later commuted to imprisonment for life.
The Qaumi Insaaf Morcha is seeking a four-week parole for Hawara. “His mother is 81 and suffering from Alzheimer’s,” said Gursharan Singh Dhaliwal, Hawara’s lawyer. “We are seeking parole in order to allow a son to meet his mother.”
In Punjab,...
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