Punjab: Jagtar Hawara seeks anticipatory bail in 24-year-old sedition case

The counsel further submitted that Hawara came to know about the present case through a list issued by the Tihar Jail authorities, and he was not aware whether he was required by the police in present FIR. Since the investigation has been pending for long in the case, he was apprehending arrest.

The counsel added that the FIR’s copy was neither being provided to the accused by the investigation agency, nor was it available online.

Hawara, otherwise, has been in custody for last more than 15 years.

It was contended further that in case the petitioner is granted bail by the court in the present FIR, he still will not be released from custody, as he is already undergoing life sentence in the FIR from the year 1995, along with the other pending cases against him. The purpose of filing this regular bail petition was to enable Hawara to initiate his parole application in the FIR from 1995.

The former chief minister of Punjab, Beant Singh, was killed in a bomb blast outside Punjab and Haryana Secretariat on August 31, 1995. The blast had killed 17 others, including Punjab Police constable Dilawar Singh, who acted as a human bomb.

Among the convicts, Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh Rajoana were sentenced to capital punishment. However, Hawara moved against the district court order to Punjab and Haryana High Court and filed an appeal.

The sentence was then converted to life imprisonment till death.