The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of Jagtar Singh Hawara, the mastermind in the sensational killing of chief minister Beant Singh in 1995, to life imprisonment "till death", holding that this is a borderline case for capital punishment.
The high court upheld the death sentence given by the trial court to another accused Balwant Singh while confirming the life sentence of three others — Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh.
A division bench comprising Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and Arvind Kumar said Hawara's case is "boundary line for death...He is sentenced to life and will not be released till death."
Suicide bomber Dilawar Singh and his accomplices killed 73-year-old Beant Singh in a blast on August 31, 1995 at the entrance of the 10-storeyed civil secretariat here in which 17 others were also killed. Dilawar Singh too was killed in the blast.
Upholding the death sentence of Balwant Singh awarded by trial court in July 2007, the court noted that he had made three confessional statements on his involvement in the killing.
Barring Balwant Singh, all the accused had filed an appeal against the trial court order in the high court where the case was heard regularly since February and the arguments were concluded in September 2010.
The court observed that the role of Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh was of providing logistic support in the plan to eliminate Beant Singh.
Defence counsel Baldev Singh told reporters outside court premises that he would decide about the next course of action only after going through the detailed order of the court.
Hawara and Balwant Singh were awarded death sentence by a special court in Chandigarh on July 31, 2007, nearly 12 years after the assassination.
Three accused Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh were awarded life imprisonment. Another accused, Naseeb Singh, was given 10 years imprisonment which he had already undergone during the long trial.
Hawara, Balwant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh were convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC while Naseeb Singh was held guilty under the Explosives Substances Act on July 27.
The seventh accused Navjot Singh was acquitted by the special court. Two other accused Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh Bheora had escaped from the Burail Jail along with Hawara, who was later re-arrested. Three others are absconding while three NRIs were declared proclaimed offenders. In all, 15 persons had been named as accused in the chargesheet.