Ludhiana (Punjab), Mar 4 (PTI) Civil rights activist Surat Singh Khalsa was discharged on Saturday from a city-based private hospital, weeks after he ended his hunger strike for the release of Sikh prisoners, an agitation he began in 2015.
Khalsa, now 89, was admitted to the hospital in 2016 after his health deteriorated during the strike. Since then, he was on a liquid diet, given through a nasal tube as he had refused to eat anything. He had ended his agitation in January.
Several political parties and organisation in Punjab, including the SAD and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, have also sought the release of Sikh prisoners or ‘Bandi Singhs’ who they claim are lodged in different jails despite having completed their sentences.
The convicts are mostly lifers sentenced in terror-related and other cases, and these outfits have been demanding they be given remission.
“Surat Singh Khalsa was never arrested or detained. He was admitted to the hospital for treatment. He was discharged today. He is stable,” Ludhiana Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu.
Doctors have advised him to avoid long journeys and crowded places, he told reporters.
The activist was first admitted to the hospital in October 2015 because of ill health but was discharged after some time. He was again admitted to the medical facility in June 2016, and continued his strike from there.
After Khalsa was discharged, an ambulance accompanied by a convoy of police vehicles took him to his native village Hassanpur in Ludhiana.
Gurdip Singh Bathinda, president of the United Akali Dal, and some other persons accompanied the convoy.
Journalists were not allowed to go inside the hospital. PTI COR CHS VSD ANB ANB ANB
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