Jittery UT police don’t want Hawara back in Burail jail
CHANDIGARH: Going by their unsavoury experience with militant Jagtar Singh Hawara, Chandigarh police do not want him back in Burail jail.
Submitting its reply in connection with the plea of Hawara to transfer all cases registered against him in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to one place, Chandigarh Police have requested Punjab and Haryana High Court to dismiss his plea.
Police submitted that since Hawara managed to escape from Burail Jail in 2004, the possibility of ‘repetition of the incident cannot be ruled out and there can be a law and order problem in Chandigarh if he is shifted to Burail jail’. Police said Hawara was a dreaded Babbar Khalsa terrorist, who was trained in Pakistan.
As per police trial in two criminal cases registered against Hawara in Chandigarh is yet to start. Hawara was convicted in the 2004 jailbreak case.
Police termed Hawara’s contention as wrong that his stay in Tihar jail was causing impediments in trial of cases in Punjab. They said Tihar was an appropriate option for the militant as security arrangements were better there.
Hawara in his plea had sought his transfer to a place where all his pending cases can be transferred in order to expedite the trials. He averred that there was little progress in some cases as he is not being produced before the court on regular basis.
Hawara had preferably sought his transfer to a jail in Punjab, claiming that most of his cases were in the state. Hawara contended that after the decision of a criminal case pending in the court of an additional sessions judge, Delhi, there is a possibility of him being shifted to Chandigarh’s Burail Jail as he is a convict in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh murder case.
Punjab and Haryana governments are expected to submit their replies too.
Terrorists Jagtar Singh Tara, Jagtar Singh Hawara, Paramjit Singh Bheora, along with a murder convict, Devi Singh, had escaped from the Burail jail in January 2004 by digging a 104foot tunnel.