Punjab and Haryana High Court orders jail to decide parole plea of CM Beant Singh's assassin in 7 weeks

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently ordered a time-bound decision on a parole plea by Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is serving a life imprisonment sentence in Mandoli jail for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

Hawara, who has spent 29 years in prison, had sought four weeks of parole to care for his ailing 81-year-old mother, citing her rapidly deteriorating physical and cognitive health.

On July 6, a Division Bench comprising Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur stepped in after noting that administrative confusion between Delhi, Punjab, and Chandigarh authorities had stalled Hawara’s request.

The Court has laid out a seven-week deadline for a decision on Hawara's parole plea, with directions to all jail authorities concerned to coordinate with each other.

The Court ordered the Superintendent of Mandoli Jail to forward the parole request to the Home Secretary of Chandigarh within one week.

Following this, the Chandigarh administration must review the file and send its official comments or recommendations back to the Mandoli Jail authorities within four weeks.

Within two weeks of receiving those recommendations, the Mandoli Jail Superintendent must take a final decision on the parole application.

The Bench added that all involved authorities must take special note of these strict deadlines to ensure the matter is resolved without further delay.

Hawara is currently serving a life sentence at Mandoli Jail following a CBI investigation and conviction under murder, attempt to murder, and explosives charges.

His counsel, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, highlighted that out of 36 total cases registered against Hawara, he has either been acquitted, discharged, or completed his sentence in all but the assassination case.

He further emphasized that despite serving an actual custody period of 29 years with clean prison conduct, his client has never been granted parole.

The hold-up in the current parole application stemmed from a jurisdictional misunderstanding. Mandoli Jail authorities had mistakenly forwarded his file to the Punjab government under the assumption that Hawara was an ordinary resident of Punjab. However, because Hawara was originally convicted by an Additional Sessions Judge in Chandigarh, the relevant authority required to provide recommendations is actually the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Senior Law Officer SGK Murty acknowledged this error during the hearing, agreeing that the file should be redirected to the Home Secretary of Chandigarh to rectify the misunderstanding.

The Court proceeded to issue directions to ensure that the file is forwarded to the Chandigarh authorities.

Advocates Aekta Vats, Jaskaran Sibia, and Gursharan Singh Dhaliwal also appeared for Jagtar Singh Hawara.

Senior Advocate JS Toor, and Advocates Adhiraj Toor and Jasbir Singh, appeared for the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Senior Law Officer SGK Murty and Deputy Superintendent Saurabh Sharma represented the Delhi Prisons department.

Advocate Akashdeep Singh appeared as the Special Public Prosecutor for the Central Bureau of Investigation.

[Read Order]