Hawara's Jail Transfer Plea Revives Punjab's Long-Running Bandi Singhs Demand

The Supreme Court’s hearing on Jagtar Singh Hawara’s plea to shift him to a Punjab jail has pushed the Sikh prisoners issue back into focus after the Intelligence Bureau told the court that such a move could “significantly impact the Assembly elections” in the state.

Hawara is serving a life sentence in Delhi’s Tihar jail for the 1995 killing of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. He wants to move to a jail in Punjab so he can stay nearer his ailing mother. Last week, the Supreme Court listed the case for February 22, 2027, when the state may be in the middle of Assembly elections.

The case has revived a political issue that has resurfaced repeatedly over the past 14 years. The demand for the release of Sikh prisoners, often referred to as Bandi Singhs, has been pursued through fasts, marches and sit-ins and has shaped mobilisation by Sikh groups and political parties in Punjab.

Morcha And Mobilisation

The campaign has stayed on the streets.

In 2023, Qaumi Insaaf Morcha supporters assembled at the historic Amb Sahib Gurdwara in Mohali and set off for Chandigarh. They sought the release of prisoners who “have served more than the normal period of a life sentence”.

Police halted the march at Chandigarh’s edge that day. The stoppage triggered the pakka morcha, an open-ended protest that is still under way. The Morcha says Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and several other political parties have backed its demands or shown sympathy for them.

Earlier Agitations And Lists

The issue predates the current protest.

In November 2013, activist Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa started a hunger strike that pushed the release of Sikh prisoners to the centre of Punjab politics. Surat Singh Khalsa later followed with a similar fast.

The Bargari Morcha also pressed for prisoner release as one of its three demands. Since then, some inmates have won release, remission or parole. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has drawn up a list of 21 Sikh prisoners in different jails, while the Qaumi Insaaf Morcha is centring its campaign on nine prisoners who have spent 15 to 31 years in custody.

Released After Campaigns

Several prisoners named in these campaigns have since left jail.

Dilbagh Singh, who was convicted in 2007 for the 1992 killing of former militant Jagmail Singh in Patiala district, walked free in December 2018. His release came after legal work and campaigning by UK-based Sikh Relief, along with orders from the Punjab government under then Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

In 2019, the Centre issued a set of remission orders around Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary. That year, Nand Singh, convicted with Subegh Singh in the 1995 killing of Bachan Ram in Chandigarh, walked out of Patiala Central Jail.

Lal Singh walked out of Nabha jail in 2020 after getting permanent release. A TADA convict, he had received a life term in 1997 after police recovered weapons at Mumbai’s Dadar railway station in 1992.

Some others have left prison on parole or under court directions. Daya Singh Lahoria, extradited from the US in 2009 and jailed in the abduction of Rajinder Mirdha, son of Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha, has been on permanent parole since December 2021.

Harnek Singh Bhap, a former Khalistan Liberation Force militant jailed in 2004 in the same abduction case, started getting parole in 2020 and won permanent release in 2024. Lahoria and Bhap were both held in Rajasthan jails, where permanent parole rules allowed their release.

Beant Singh Convicts

Some convicts in the Beant Singh case have also secured relief.

Gurmeet Singh first got parole in 2014 after Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa’s agitation. Shamsher Singh was granted parole in 2016. Gurmeet Singh, Shamsher Singh and Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha have been out on interim bail since 2023 under orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Lakha had spent more than 26 years in jail before his release on bail. He had been lodged at Model Jail, Burail.

Two prisoners are still behind bars despite release orders. Devinderpal Singh Bhullar and Gurdeep Singh Khera are tied to the 1993 Delhi blast case and a related 1990 bombing case, and both have spent more than 31 years in custody. They were shifted to Amritsar Central Jail in 2015-16 and get regular parole.

The Centre announced their release on Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary. Even so, both remain in prison.

Four Still Inside

All four face conviction in the Beant Singh assassination case. Paramjit Singh Bheora was taken into custody in 1997, broke out of Burail jail on January 23, 2004 and was rearrested in March 2006. He has spent over 27 years in Model Jail, Burail, never used parole and has one case pending.

Balwant Singh Rajoana has been in prison for over 30 years and received a death sentence. The Union Home Ministry put his execution on hold in 2012. Later, the Centre notified the conversion of his death penalty to life imprisonment during Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary year, but a writ petition seeking formal commutation remains before the Supreme Court. Rajoana is held at Central Jail, Patiala, has never taken parole and faces no pending case.

Hawara was arrested in 1995 and has now spent more than 30 years behind bars. His challenge to the conviction is still before the Supreme Court. He broke out of Burail jail in 2004 and was arrested again in 2005. Cases against him are pending in courts in Mohali and Chandigarh.

Jagtar Singh alias Tara was arrested on September 13, 1995. He broke out of Burail jail in 2004 and was taken back into custody in January 2015. Three cases remain pending against him — one in Patiala and two in Jalandhar.