Supreme Court defers Jagtar Singh Hawara’s Punjab jail transfer plea to February 2027 over poll concerns

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing on Jagtar Singh Hawara’s plea seeking transfer from Delhi’s Tihar Jail to a prison in Punjab until February 2027, after taking note of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report warning of possible law and order concerns and the potential impact on the state’s upcoming Assembly elections.

Hawara, a convict in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, has sought a transfer to a prison in his home state.

The Centre, however, opposed the move, citing concerns raised by the intelligence agency over the possible consequences of shifting him.

A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Prasanna B. Varale was informed by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, that the IB had described Hawara as a high-risk prisoner and expressed reservations about his transfer to Punjab.

The agency reportedly warned that the move could have significant repercussions for the state’s law and order situation and influence the political atmosphere ahead of Assembly elections scheduled for early next year.

Supreme Court flags serious concerns

Taking note of the intelligence report, the bench led by Justice Sundresh said its contents were serious and expressed concern over the possible consequences of passing an order at the present stage.

Senior advocate S. Muralidhar, appearing for Hawara, challenged the Centre’s position that Tihar Jail was better equipped to accommodate high-security prisoners. He also urged the court to allow Hawara to meet his ailing mother.

The bench said it would ordinarily have no objection to permitting a prisoner to meet an unwell family member. However, it observed that the IB report was “very damning”, particularly in view of the prevailing circumstances and the possible impact of a judicial order on the forthcoming elections.

Muralidhar subsequently suggested that the matter could be taken up after three months, once the elections were over.

The Supreme Court accepted the suggestion and deferred the hearing to the week commencing February 22, 2027.

Centre sought IB’s views on transfer

The matter was last heard on October 13, when the Centre told the Supreme Court that a decision on Hawara’s proposed transfer could not be taken without obtaining inputs from the Intelligence Bureau.

The bench had then asked ASG Bhati to seek the agency’s assessment of whether transferring Hawara to a prison in Punjab would be advisable.

Hawara’s conviction and plea to meet mother

Hawara was convicted in connection with the August 1995 assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was killed along with 16 others in a bomb blast outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh. Several others were injured in the attack.

In July 2007, a trial court convicted Hawara and other accused in the case. He was initially sentenced to death, but the Punjab and Haryana High Court commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in December 2010.

The transfer plea comes amid separate efforts by the Punjab government to secure temporary parole for Hawara on humanitarian grounds, allowing him to meet his elderly and ailing mother.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had earlier approached Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, seeking his intervention to grant Hawara 10 days of parole. Mann had assured the Governor that the state government would take responsibility for maintaining law and order during any such visit.

(with IANS inputs)