Chandigarh, Aug 12 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday met Governor Gulab Chand Kataria here and sought his intervention for the grant of parole to Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is serving a life sentence in the assassination case of former chief minister Beant Singh.
Former Union minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu, the grandson of Beant Singh, also backed the parole plea on humanitarian grounds, saying Hawara’s elderly and unwell mother should not be made to suffer for the actions of her son.
Favouring parole for Hawara on humanitarian grounds, Mann said his ailing mother had a “renewed hope” of meeting her son after 31 years.
Mann said Kataria, who is also the Chandigarh administrator, assured him that he would take up the matter with the Union home secretary.
The meeting came days after Mann wrote to Kataria, recommending 10-day parole for Hawara on humanitarian grounds.
“The governor is also the UT administrator. He is to recommend and thereafter, the Home Ministry will take a decision,” Mann said.
“We wrote for a 10-day parole. But it is the Centre that will take a call on granting parole for however long,” he said.
Mann said Hawara’s mother was seriously ill and wanted to meet her son.
“His mother is currently semi-conscious. Whenever Hawara’s name is uttered near her, she reacts. She wants to meet her son,” he said.
The chief minister said the state government had assured the governor that it would take full responsibility for maintaining law and order if Hawara was allowed to visit his home.
“The state government takes full guarantee for the law and order situation in the wake of Jagtar Singh Hawara’s visit to his home. His supporters and family members have also assured their fulsome support to the state government in this regard,” Mann said.
“The state government is fully committed to maintaining law and order and protecting the hard-earned peace of Punjab. No stone will be left unturned for this noble cause. I have also assured the governor of fulsome support and cooperation from the state government in pursuing this matter with the Centre,” he added.
“I expect that Bhai Jagtar Singh Hawara ji will soon be sitting beside his mother,” Mann said.
Bittu welcomed the positive report sent by the Governor to the Union Home Ministry regarding the parole application of Hawara.
He said he had met Kataria and thanked him for taking a compassionate and humane view of Hawara’s parole plea, particularly considering the advanced age and ill health of his mother.
“For the sake of an elderly and unwell mother, Jagtar Singh Hawara should be granted parole,” Bittu said.
He said the family of Beant Singh supported the humanitarian approach, adding that an elderly mother should not be made to suffer for the actions of her son.
“As the family of late Beant Singh ji, we second this humanitarian move. A mother should not be made to undergo a humanitarian punishment for the actions of her son. Whatever the legal consequences of his actions may be, an aged and unwell mother should not be deprived of the opportunity to meet her son when the law provides for temporary parole,” Bittu said in a statement.
He expressed hope that the competent authorities would consider the matter expeditiously and take an appropriate decision in accordance with law.
Bittu reiterated that while his family would always honour the “supreme sacrifice” of Beant Singh, it also believed that compassion, humanity and peace must guide society forward.
Last month, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed authorities at Delhi’s Mandoli prison, where Hawara is lodged, to decide his parole application in a time-bound manner after seeking recommendations from the Chandigarh administration.
Hawara was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted by the High Court. He is serving a life sentence in the case related to the blast at the entrance of the civil secretariat at Chandigarh on August 31, 1995, in which Beant Singh and 16 more people were killed. PTI CHS MDO MDO MDO
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