Five Punjab cops in jail for militancy-era crimes to be freed

NEW DELHI: The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has approved a proposal from Punjab government to release five police personnel from the state who were serving life sentence for offences committed during militancy in Punjab.

The decision has come fortnight after the MHA decided to release eight Sikh prisoners, lodged in different jails in the country for committing crimes during the militancy in Punjab.

“The government of India has accepted the request of the government of Punjab for grant of special remission and release of five Punjab Police personnel undergoing sentence in different jails offences committed during militancy period ,” a home ministry official said. The above decision has been approved on “humanitarian and compassionate considerations” and a communication to this effect was sent on Monday to the Punjab government for taking necessary action.

Thanking Union home minister Amit Shah for the decision, the Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh hoped that the central government would also give due cognisance to favourably consider his plea to release other cops whose release he had sought last month on humanitarian grounds.

The CM had pointed out that around 1,800 police officers of various ranks sacrificed themselves during the terrorism days, while fighting proxy war with terrorists to protect the unity and integrity of the country.