Abolish Death Penalty India: Jagtar Singh

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Death row convict Rajoana ends hunger strike after meeting with SGPC chief (Punjab)

Posted at: Jul 20, 2018, 8:21 PM

Patiala: Balwant Singh Rajoana, the death row convict in the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh assassination case, on Friday ended his hunger strike in the Patiala central jail following a meeting with the SGPC chief.

Balwant Singh Rajoana

Rajoana had recently written to the Patiala jail superintendent that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had moved a mercy petition seeking commutation of his death penalty into life imprisonment in 2012 before the then President Pratibha Patil without taking his consent. According to media reports, Rajoana had accused the SPGC of failing to pursue his mercy petition. He had claimed that until the SGPC does not withdraw the mercy petition—if they do not get any results—or the Union Home Ministry does not conclude on it he would remain on hunger strike.

The SGPC, in a statement today, said that its chief Gobind Singh Longowal met Rajoana in the Patiala central jail here, following which he ended his hunger strike. Jail Superintendent Rajan Kapoor confirmed that Rajoana has ended his hunger strike. Rajoana, who began his fast unto death from Monday, had earlier turned down the SGPC’s request to end it. Longowal, along with Akali Dal MPs, had recently met Union Minister Rajnath Singh regarding Rajoana’s mercy petition. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court had in July 2007 awarded the death sentence to Rajoana, along with another terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara, in the Beant Singh assassination case.

Rajoana was scheduled to be hanged on March 31, 2012. However, the execution was stayed on March 28, 2012, by Patil after the SPGC filed the mercy petition. The President had forwarded the application to the Home Ministry but the later is yet to take any decision on it. Rajoana is currently lodged in execution cell of the Patiala central jail. Former Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was largely credited with wiping out terrorism from Punjab, was assassinated by Dilawar Singh, a human bomb, at the high security Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.

While Hawara was the mastermind of the assassination, Rajoana was the second human bomb to be used in case the first assassin failed. Rajoana, during the trial, had admitted that he alone was responsible for the killing. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had in October 2010 upheld the death sentence for Rajoana, but changed the capital punishment given to Hawara to life imprisonment. Rajoana had refused to challenge the death sentence awarded to him. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2012 had said it would go to any extent to save Rajoana and asked the SGPC “to take all possible legal and other steps” to secure clemency for him. — PTI

Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/death-row-convict-rajoana-ends-hunger-strike-after-meeting-with-sgpc-chief/623695.html (Accessed 25 December 2018)

Monday, December 24, 2018

Beant Singh assassination case: Jagtar Singh Tara gets life imprisonment (Punjab)

By Express Web Desk |New Delhi |Updated: March 17, 2018 5:55:01 pm

Beant Singh assassination case: Confessing his crime in January, Jagtar Singh Tara had submitted a letter to the court stating, “I have no regret for killing Beant Singh”.

Jagtar Singh

A day after pronouncing Jagtar Singh Tara guilty in the case of assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, the district court of Chandigarh on Saturday sentenced him to life imprisonment. “The Court has passed the order for life imprisonment for him,” Tara’s lawyer said. Chief Secretary of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Roop Singh said, “Jagtar Singh Tara murdered Beant Singh out of emotions and not due to land or property dispute. Murdering someone is bad but he has been given punishment after 22 years. It’s painful for family as well as for the Sikh community.” Confessing his crime in January, Tara had submitted a letter to the court stating, “I have no regret for killing Beant Singh”. He had also said that Shaheed Udham Singh, who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, was his inspiration to kill Beant. He also admitted that he purchased the car used for the assassination of Beant and they all waited for the best opportunity to kill the former CM.

As per the defence counsel, in the letter, Tara had stated that he took inspiration from Sikh history and tradition, which taught him not to bear injustice, and the circumstances at that time were intolerable when innocent Sikh youths were being brutally murdered. Earlier, Balwant Singh Rajoana was also convicted in the assasination case. The Chandigarh police had arrested nine persons for the assassination of Beant Singh while six others booked in the case were later declared proclaimed offenders by the court. Beant was killed in a bomb blast outside Punjab and Haryana secretariat on August 31, 1995. The explosion had killed 17 others, including Punjab Police constable Dilawar Singh, who acted as a human bomb. Tara was charged under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and under Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act.

The trial began in the district court in 1995. However, in 2004, Jagtar Singh Tara, Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjeet Singh Bheora escaped from the high-security Burail Model Jail in Chandigarh after digging a tunnel. In 2006, Jagtar Singh Hawara was arrested by the Punjab Police from Patiala. Among those convicted, Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh Rajoana were sentenced to death. However, Hawara appealed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. Currently, he is lodged in Tihar jail in Delhi. Rajoana, who did not appeal against the death sentence, is currently in Patiala jail. Among the other convicts, Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment and Naseeb Singh was sentenced 10 years of imprisonment.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/beant-singh-assassination-case-jagtar-singh-tara-gets-life-imprisonment-5101201/ (Accessed 24 December 2018)

The Death Penalty Scenario in India

India is one of 193 countries that retains the death penalty. Some judges have delivered landmark verdicts upholding the rights of death row prisoners, while debates continue advocating abolition or reform of sentencing policies. The Indian government remains committed to retention, asserting executions occur only in “rarest of rare” cases. The death penalty applies to crimes including murder, kidnapping, terrorism, desertion, inducement to suicide of a minor or mentally-retarded person, and in certain cases of rape. Outrage over child rape and murder has intensified these discussions. After an unofficial eight-year moratorium, the government executed Ajmal Kasab (Mumbai attacks) in 2012 and Afzal Guru (Parliament attack) in 2013, both covertly and immediately after mercy petitions were rejected. Prior to this, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed in 2004 after 13 years on death row. Following these, many mercy petitions have been rejected, creating fear among death row convicts. Courts continue to hand down death sentences at an increasing rate. Empirical studies highlight the plight of death row prisoners. The India Exclusion Report 2017-18 found fair trial rights largely denied, with convicts often marginalized by caste, religion, poverty, and education. The Death Penalty Research Project (2015) documented socio-economic profiles and experiences of death row prisoners. Dr. Reena Mary George’s studies (2014, 2009) emphasized poverty, social exclusion, and dignity as central to death row experiences, and examined the human rights impact of the penalty. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2015, 101 prisoners were on death row, with many sentences commuted to life. The “rarest of rare” doctrine introduced by the Supreme Court in the 1980s has not substantially limited death sentences, which have increased over the decades. Justice Joseph (2018) reaffirmed the Bachan Singh judgment but urged restriction of the death penalty to only those cases meeting its criteria. While updating the blog and conducting my own empirical studies, I observed the heinous nature of the crimes that were committed and thought about the families, about their loss, about the victims who for no fault of their own died. If I lost my relative or a dear friend, would I still oppose death penalty and would I still advocate to abolish the death sentence? Having worked in the criminal justice system and also having the seen the other side, where often it is the marginalized, vulnerable and oppressed who are on death row makes me want to advocate for abolition of this punishment. Victims should definitely get justice for their loss, for their pain. No one should escape the rule of law. As long as humanity exists; crime will exist. Should we not re-consider our sentencing policies? Reena Mary George