High Court commutes Hawara death sentence to life term

Holding that Hawara was “merely a tool in the hands of Mehal Singh and Wadhawa Singh (both absconding)”,who had hatched the conspiracy to eliminate Beant Singh in Pakistan,the Division Bench comprising Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Arvind Kumar ruled that Hawara’s case was a “border line” case to be awarded death sentence. It also held that the CBI has failed to prove crucial accusations levelled against Hawara while making it it clear that he will be in jail for the rest of his life.

“It was found that Hawara was not found near Chandigarh on July 30 and 31 in 1995…his case is boundary line for death…he is sentenced to life and will not be released till death,” Justice Gill said while pronouncing the order. With respect to the conspiracy hatched to eliminate the former CM,the Bench has held that “it is the case of prosecution that conspiracy to assassinate the former chief minister was hatched in Pakistan between Mehal and Wadhawa and Hawara”.

“Apart from the prosecution’s version there is no evidence on record to substantiate this. Nothing is on record as to when did Hawara go to Pakistan and when did he come back. Hawara does not fall within parameters of guidelines done but we are conscious of the fact that a gruesome murder of the former CM along with 16 others had taken place and Hawara was the organiser of heinous crime”

Suicide bomber Dilawar Singh and his accomplices killed Beant Singh in a blast on August 31,1995 outside civil secretariat here in which 17 others were also killed.

About Balwant Singh,who had refused to contest his case through a lawyer or through an amicus,the Bench said that except for his own judicial confessions, “there is no other evidence for implicating Balwant”.

The High Court also upheld the life imprisonment awarded to other three accused,Gurmeet,Lakhwinder and Shamsher Singh,terming them as “pawns” in the hands of Balwant Singh and Hawara. They “only gave logistic support for assassination of the former CM,it observed.

In a significant observation,the Bench stated that “the conspiracy against Beant Singh could have been nipped in the bud had (then) Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Arun Kumar been alert. On August 24,1995,Balwant and Hawara were stopped by the ASI. While the two did not have necessary papers,their scooter was not searched. If he had done that,he would have recovered material used to make a bomb. All the ASI did was hand him a challan,a slip of which was recovered from house of Chamkaur,brother of Dilawar (the human bomb)”.

Senior public prosecutor for CBI R K Handa said that the CBI will most likely file an appeal against the judgment in the apex court. “Since the High Court has given a finding that Hawara was the main conspirator and was used as a tool to assassinate the former Chief Minister by the main conspirators,the CBI has a solid ground to challenge this order in Supreme Court.”