High Court Directs Expeditious Decision On Parole Plea Of Former Punjab CM Beant Singh Assassination Convict

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has directed an expeditious decision on the parole application filed by Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is serving a life sentence in Delhi's Mandoli Jail in the assassination case of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. [2025 LiveLaw (PH) 226]A division bench of Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur directed,"i.the Superintendent, Central Jail No.15, Mandoli, shall re-direct / forward the request of the petitioner for grant of parole to the Home Secretary, Union Territory, Chandigarh within a period of one week from today;ii That on receipt of the aforesaid request, the Union Territory, Chandigarh shall submits its comments / recommendations to the Superintendent of the Central Jail No.15, Mandoli within a further period of four weeks, as per law andiii On receipt of the aforesaid comments / recommendation, the Superintendent of the Central Jail No.15, Mandoli shall take a decision on the parole application within a further period of two weeks thereafter."The petition was filed under Article 226 of the Constitution read with Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, seeking four weeks' parole to enable Hawara to attend to his ailing 81-year-old mother, who is stated to be suffering from age-related physical and cognitive ailments.Appearing for the petitioner, senior counsel submitted that Hawara was convicted in a CBI case registered in 1995 under various provisions of the IPC and the Explosive Substances Act. He was initially sentenced to death in 2007, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the High Court in 2010. Special Leave Petitions filed by both the State and Hawara are presently pending before the Supreme Court.It was further argued that although 36 cases had been registered against Hawara in the past, he has either been acquitted or discharged in most of them and has completed his sentence in six out of the seven cases in which he was convicted. According to the petitioner, he has undergone about 29 years of actual custody and has neither been granted parole nor remission during this period. It was also highlighted that no complaint of misconduct or prison offence has been reported against him during his incarceration.The Court was informed that, despite directions issued by the Delhi High Court to decide the parole application, the matter remained unresolved due to confusion regarding the competent authority. The jail authorities in Delhi had forwarded the case to the Punjab Government on the assumption that, since Hawara was a resident of Punjab, his parole application ought to be considered by the State. Hawara, however, contended that since he was convicted by a court in Chandigarh in a case registered there, the Union Territory authorities were the competent authority.The Union Territory, Chandigarh, submitted that under the Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1962 and the rules framed thereunder, as applicable to Chandigarh, the decision on temporary release is to be taken by the Superintendent of the jail where the convict is lodged, namely Central Jail No. 15, Mandoli, New Delhi. The UT further referred to the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, contending that parole is ordinarily not granted to convicts involved in terrorist activities or prison escape cases.Clarifying the position, the Delhi Prisons authorities acknowledged that the parole file had been erroneously forwarded due to a misunderstanding and undertook to send Hawara's application to the Home Secretary, UT Chandigarh, for comments and recommendations.Taking note of the submissions made by all sides, the High Court disposed of the petition with directions aimed at streamlining the process and ensuring an expeditious decision on Hawara's parole plea.Mr.Maninder Singh, Senior Advocate, with Ms, Aekta Vats, Advocate,Mr. Jaskaran Sibia, Advocate, and Mr. Gursharan Singh Dhaliwal, Advocate, for the petitioner.Mr. J.S.Toor, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Adhiraj Toor, Advocate and Mr. Jasbir Singh, Advocate, for respondent no.1, U.T, Chandigarh.Mr. S.G.K Murty, Senior Law Officer, Delhi Prisons and Mr. Saurabh Sharma, Deputy Superintendent, Central Jail No.15, Mandoli in person.Mr. Akashdeep Singh, Advocate, SPP for respondent no.6 – CBI.Title: Jagtar Singh Hawara v. Union Territory, Chandigarh Administration and othersClick here to read order

High Court Directs Expeditious Decision On Parole Plea Of Former Punjab CM Beant Singh Assassination Convict

Aiman J. Chishti

This is a premium content
Available exclusively to
Our subscribers

INR 1099+GST

Tags

Aiman J. Chishti

High Court Directs Expeditious Decision On Parole Plea Of Former Punjab CM Beant Singh Assassination Convict

Aiman J. Chishti

This is a premium content Available exclusively to Our subscribers

INR 1099+GST

Tags

Aiman J. Chishti

This is a premium content
Available exclusively to
Our subscribers