Hawara's Sentance Delivered Today

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Beant's daughter denied entry into Burail Jail

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28

Unlike yesterday, the Burail Jail, where the quantum of sentence to the accused in Beant Singh assassination case was to be pronounced today, turned into a fortress.

The security was so tight that even family members of the former Chief Minister were not allowed inside the jail premises.

Gurkanwal Kaur, daughter of late Beant Singh, and his grandson Ravneet Singh had to return disappointed as the security agencies did not allow them to enter the jail premises.

"Yesterday, they (the police) gave the reason that atmosphere was volatile and our presence could aggravate the situation. But, today they did not bother to give even the reasons for denial," said a visibly upset Gurkanwal Kaur, who was social welfare minister during the Amarinder Singh regime.

"For us, being present at the time of verdict was an emotional moment. Undoubtedly, the denial hurt us, but I did not want to argue with the police, so I decided to go back", she said while talking to The Tribune.

When asked whether she had taken permission from the authorities to attend the court proceedings, she said she had called up at the residences of inspector-general and senior superintendent of police, but they were not available.

"Now, I will meet Punjab Governor Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd) regarding the issue", added Gurkanwal.

Ravneet Singh, grandson of Beant Singh, while expressing disappointment over not being allowed entry, demanded that the accused should be awarded death penalty.

Echoing the sentiments of Gurkanwal Kaur, he said, "Only capital punishment will do the justice to the murderers of Beant Singh, who brought Punjab out of the darkness of terrorism".

He also added that the whole family felt relieved and happy over the conviction of the accused.

However, he refused to comment on the acquittal of Navjot Singh.

"He has been acquitted in this case but another warrant against him is pending in New Delhi, I hope justice would be done there," he added.

Meanwhile, N.S. Minhas, Navjot's lawyer, informed that the CBI had taken Navjot to New Delhi today morning.

Minhas said the sessions court had issued a notice to the CBI over his plea that Navjot should not be taken to New Delhi and should be released immediately. The CBI reply to the notice was expected on Monday.

Beant Singh's daughter Gurkanwal Kaur outside the Burail Jail in Chandigarh on Saturday.— Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Bitta seeks death for Beant’s assassins

Our Correspondent

Mohali, July 28

The chairman of the All India Anti-Terrorist Front, Maninderjit Singh Bitta, today sought the death sentence for those held guilty in the Beant Singh assassination case.

Addressing a press conference here, Bitta also said he was not happy at the acquittal of Navjot Singh in the case and said an appeal should be filed against this verdict.

Bitta demanded strict action against the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, who he said had allegedly disturbed peace in Punjab.

He said Daljit Bittu, Jasbir Singh Rode, Paramjit Singh Sarna had former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had close links with the dera chief. He demanded a CBI inquiry to expose these links.

He said Capt Amarinder Singh should clarify whether he was with the dera head or the Guru. Bitta said a 72-page report was lying with the Punjab DGP which should be made public so that the activities of many political persons get exposed and peace prevails in Punjab.

[SaRpAnCh]

Death Sentence Due Today

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/45845/beant-...dict-today.html

The Shaheedi of these Soormeh will be the last chapter of the Sikh Resistance from the late 80's early 90's,it will open up a whole new chapter in the strugle for Freedom.

We do Ardass that these Symbols of Sikh Freedom stay in more Chardhi Kalla than ever before and like Shaheed Bhai Jinda/Sukha ,recieve the Sentence like Real Khalse

Dhan Teri Sikhi Dhan Tera Khalsa

Parnam Shaheedan Nu! !

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Main part has been highlighted in red...this is SUPPOSE to be the "leader" of the Shiromani Akali Dal (the party that is SUPPOSE to stand for the rights of Sikhs) saying that...disgraceful...

__________________________________________________________

Beant Singh Case

Govt to work for Tara's extradition

Tribune News Service

Rayya, July 29

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here today said necessary action would be taken for extradition of Jagtar Singh Tara, who has allegedly fled to Pakistan and is wanted in the Beant Singh murder case.

In an interaction with mediapersons after holding sangat darshan, Badal said, "The government will take steps to get back Tara as per law."

Taking a dig at Capt Amarinder Singh, Badal said he had put the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery project on hold due to his personal interests. "Interestingly, he takes pride in this fact. Had it been implemented in time, it would have put Punjab on the road to development," he said.

Asked about the attack on a DDPO in Gurdarpur, Badal said the inquiry into the case had been taken away from SSP, Batala, R.N. Dhoke and handed over to SSP, Amritsar (Rural), Iqbal Singh.

Commenting on the rebellion among workers of the SAD and BJP for the candidature for municipal corporation elections, he said this happened every time before the elections and soon the party functioning would be back on track. The Chief Minister clarified that the government was not influencing the police inquiry into the case against former Congress MLA Jasbir Singh Dimpa.

Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, rural development and panchayat minister, Ratan Singh Ajnala, MP, Manjinder Singh Kang, MLA, Beas, and senior functionaries of the state and district administration were also present.

Medical officer suspended

At the sangat darshan, the Chief Minister received complaints of irregularities against Dr Lakhwinder Singh Chahal, a medical officer in the Baba Bakala area, in view of which he was immediately suspended.

__________________________________________________________

[AK-47]

Badal just kissing govt backside again just in case another jodha dilavar singh blows him into little pieces as well!

these government people will never understand the mindset of true singhs! trying to charge the singhs and threaten them with the death sentance is giving the singhs what they want, shaheedi! the gurmukh singhs are in a win, win situation!! if they dont get death sentance, then they are alive to carry on doing parchar and perhaps attempt another escape! if they get the death sentance then they become martyrs and join guru sahibs fauj!

how can the government defeat a quam which has jewels of singhs that live and die for the panth!

hopefully the panthic groups in india will show some steel when the descision comes out and not just sit quietly

[SaRpAnCh]

CHANDIGARH: A special court on Monday deferred till Tuesday the pronouncement of quantum of sentence to the six persons convicted for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

The Special Court of R K Sondhi reserved its verdict on the quantum of sentence till Tuesday after hearing the argument of CBI and the defence lawyer.

The CBI counsel sought capital punishment for all the accused, barring Naseeb Singh, in the assassination case of the then chief minister in the Congress-ruled Punjab, who was killed along with 17 others, including human bomb Dilawar Singh.

Jagtar Singh Hawara, Balwant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh were convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC while Naseeb Singh was held guilty under the Explosives Substances Act on July 27 after a trial spanning 11 years.

Another accused in the case, Navjot Singh, who was acquitted, has been taken to Delhi in connection with another case registered against him.

Media was not allowed to inter the jail premises during the proceeding in the court.

Talking to reporters outside the jail building, the defence counsel said they had sought life imprisonment for the five accused and pleaded that Naseeb Singh should not be given more than ten years of sentence, which in any case he has already completed.

Defence Counsel Amarjit Singh Chahal and Arvind Thakur said they had argued that killing of Beant Singh was not rarest of the rare case and cannot be regarded as one fit for awarding capital punishment.

Calling Beant Singh's rule "worse than that of the Mughals and the British", Chahal argued "keeping in view the political, social, religious and other circumstances at that time, it has to be accepted that the killing of Beant Singh was not for any personal reasons".

[B4ND4]

Mother meets Hawara after 2 yrs

Akash Ghai and Swati Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30

It was an unforgettable day for Narinder Kaur who got a chance to meet her son Jagtar Singh Hawara after two and a half years at Burail Jail today.

Narinder Kaur had come along with other family members to hear the pronouncement of the quantum of sentence in the Beant Singh assassination case.

Visibly depressed and shaken, she almost fainted after coming out of the jail. "Please do not bother me as I am not well," said Narinder Kaur.

However, after a while she said she had met her son Jagtar Hawara during the court proceedings. "He seems to be fine and least scared of what destiny has in store for him," she said.

"I came here to see and bless my son," said Narinder, who was accompanied by her sister-in-law Sukhdev Kaur, brother Harminder Singh, nephews Mehar Singh and Gurdeep Singh, niece Baljeet Kaur and brother-in-law Dev Singh.

"Narinder Kaur felt uncomfortable inside the courtroom also and walked out soon," said Sukhdev Kaur.

Sukhdev told mediapersons: "He boosted our morale saying there is no need to worry as he is mentally prepared for anything. Instead, he enquired about our village, family and relatives."

Though the uncertainty of the fate of those convicted in the case kept their families tense, they maintained that they were ready for anything.

"We came to hear the sentence but it has again been deferred. However, we have faith in God and are prepared for everything", said Mehar Singh and Gurdeep Singh, cousins of Hawara.

Confident of Shamsher's innocence, his wife Baljinder Kaur, brother Bahgwant Singh and sister Gurcharan Kaur, said, "We are sure that Shamsher is innocent. Now we are waiting for the verdict."

On being asked whether they would move the high court if the decision was against their expectations, they said, "We will decide after the pronouncement of the sentence."

Family members of Lakhwinder held that since he had already spent so many years in jail, the pronouncement of the sentence would hardly matter.

In jail since the trial began, Lakwinder Singh is more worried about his family than himself. His sister Sukwinder Kaur was asked to look after the youngest sibling, besides being advised to be "strict with him".

[B4ND4]

Dilawar's act unjustified, says father

Families of Beant's assassins left shattered

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 30

As the assassins of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh wait for the pronouncement of sentence by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, their families have been left destitute and shattered.

Harnek Singh, father of Dilawar Singh, the human bomb who killed Beant Singh, told TNS at his residence in the Guru Nanak Nagar locality here today: "I cannot term the act of my son as right."

"Many hardliners are calling him a martyr. They may have collected crores in his name. However, none of them has ever visited the family for the past 12 years. They have being observing his death anniversary in foreign countries but nobody has taken the trouble to address the problems of affected families," he said.

"Our family has survived just because I was a government employee in Punjabi University, Patiala. I am drawing a pension that helps us make both ends meet."

He said Dilawar Singh was a jolly person. He never gave an indication of his allegiance to hardliners. "Just five days before he committed the act, I sought his consent for marriage. He, however, told me to wait for two months. The family was shocked when five days after the assassination of Beant Singh, we came to know that the person who acted as human bomb was Dilawar Singh," he said.

Dilawar Singh's elder brother works for a private company. His family remains aloof without interacting much with people in the colony.

Gurmeet Singh, another convict, was an engineering student when he became part of the plot to assassinate Beant Singh. His father Jaswinder Singh, who was a Punjabi University employee, died two years ago in an accident.

The ailing mother and physically challenged sister of Gurmeet Singh now stay in their house in Guru Nanak Nagar. Both of them are now surviving on the family pension.

Hardly anyone visits them these days, say neighbours. Both of them are concerned about the sentence to be pronounced on Gurmeet Singh.

The family of Lakhwinder Singh, another convict, is shattered. His house in Guru Nanak Nagar is in poor shape. None of his family members now stays in Patiala.

The house has been rented out. His father Darshan Singh, a sub-inspector with the Punjab Armed Police, has retained a room in the house. He comes here for a few days to collect the rent. The tenants said the family was under immense tension. One of the sisters of Lakhwinder Singh tried to grab the house.

Their father, however, disowned her and her husband. His mother died in 2004 and his father now stays alone.

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Beant Case

Sentence put off again

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30

A special court today reserved its judgment on sentence to six terrorists of the Babbar Khalsa International, convicted last week for plotting the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh about 12 years ago.

Special judge Ravi Kumar Sondhi reserved the order till tomorrow after hearing the arguments of the CBI and defence counsel in the courtroom of the high-security Burail jail here.

Terming the killing of Beant Singh as "rarest of the rare" case like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi assassination cases and the Dhananjay Chatterjee case, R.K. Handa and Rajan Malhotra, Special CBI prosecutor and assistant prosecutor, respectively, pleaded for death penalty for all accused, except Naseeb Singh in "the interest of the justice". Beant Singh and 17 others, including suicide bomber Dilawar Singh, were killed in a massive bomb blast on the premises of the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat on August 31,1995.

On July 27, the court had held Jagtar Singh Hawara, Shamsher Singh, Balwant Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh guilty under Sections 302(murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120-B(criminal conspiracy) of the IPC while holding Naseeb Singh guilty under the Explosive Substances Act.

Picking holes in the CBI counsel's arguments, defence lawyers A.S. Chahal and Arvind Thakur told reporters outside the jail that the killing of Beant Singh was not a "rarest of the rare" case and could not be regarded as a fit case for awarding capital punishment. They sought life imprisonment for the five accused and 10 years' term for Naseeb Singh.

The defence counsel contended that there was no direct evidence and the capital punishment could not be awarded on the basis of only circumstantial evidence. However, the CBI counsel contended that the quantum of sentence could not be mitigated on the basis of the circumstantial evidence.

Dubbing Beant Singh's rule "worse than that of the Mughals and the British", Chahal argued that "keeping in view political, social, religious and other circumstances at that time, it has to be accepted that the killing of Beant Singh was not for any personal reasons".

"Beant Singh represented no one in Punjab and was a tool in the hands of the central government," the counsel submitted before the special court.

"Beant Singh came to power by securing votes to the extent of mere 6 per cent as the other major political parties boycotted the Punjab elections held in 1992... During the period of Beant Singh as Chief Minister and till his death there were countless false encounters wherein innocent Sikhs were killed," Chahal alleged.

Detailing the "acts of oppression" carried out during the Beant Singh regime, the counsel said, "The answer to oppression came in the shape of late (human bomb) Dilawar Singh," he added.

"So the killing of Beant Singh was not a pure and simple murder, but a divine killing that has been done by all incarnations worshipped in India... So as per the Indian Penal Code, the assassination constitutes the offence of murder but the system of governing of that time itself compelled the people to act in such a manner. The quantum of punishment must be decided by taking into account these compelling circumstances," the defence counsel submitted, pleading leniency towards the convicts. Meanwhile, chairman of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front M.S. Bitta and Gurkirat Singh, a grandson of Beant Singh, hoped that justice would be done in the case and all convicts would be given capital punishment.

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Mother meets Hawara after 2 yrs

Akash Ghai and Swati Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30

It was an unforgettable day for Narinder Kaur who got a chance to meet her son Jagtar Singh Hawara after two and a half years at Burail Jail today.

Narinder Kaur had come along with other family members to hear the pronouncement of the quantum of sentence in the Beant Singh assassination case.

Visibly depressed and shaken, she almost fainted after coming out of the jail. "Please do not bother me as I am not well," said Narinder Kaur.

However, after a while she said she had met her son Jagtar Hawara during the court proceedings. "He seems to be fine and least scared of what destiny has in store for him," she said.

"I came here to see and bless my son," said Narinder, who was accompanied by her sister-in-law Sukhdev Kaur, brother Harminder Singh, nephews Mehar Singh and Gurdeep Singh, niece Baljeet Kaur and brother-in-law Dev Singh.

"Narinder Kaur felt uncomfortable inside the courtroom also and walked out soon," said Sukhdev Kaur.

Sukhdev told mediapersons: "He boosted our morale saying there is no need to worry as he is mentally prepared for anything. Instead, he enquired about our village, family and relatives."

Though the uncertainty of the fate of those convicted in the case kept their families tense, they maintained that they were ready for anything.

"We came to hear the sentence but it has again been deferred. However, we have faith in God and are prepared for everything", said Mehar Singh and Gurdeep Singh, cousins of Hawara.

Confident of Shamsher's innocence, his wife Baljinder Kaur, brother Bahgwant Singh and sister Gurcharan Kaur, said, "We are sure that Shamsher is innocent. Now we are waiting for the verdict."

On being asked whether they would move the high court if the decision was against their expectations, they said, "We will decide after the pronouncement of the sentence."

Family members of Lakhwinder held that since he had already spent so many years in jail, the pronouncement of the sentence would hardly matter.

In jail since the trial began, Lakwinder Singh is more worried about his family than himself. His sister Sukwinder Kaur was asked to look after the youngest sibling, besides being advised to be "strict with him".

Narinder Kaur, mother of Hawara, sits in distress after coming out of Burail Jail in Chandigarh on Monday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan