Beant Singh assassination convict Jagtar Singh Hawara acquitted in 2005 case

Kamaljit Singh alias Mann, a co-accused in the case, was convicted in 2008 in a special trial.

Hawara appealed against the order at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which commuted his sentence to life imprisonment till death. (File photo)

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The Additional District and Sessions Court of Chandigarh on Wednesday acquitted Jagtar Singh Hawara, one of the assassins of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, in a 2005 case filed under IPC charges including waging war against the Government of India and under the Arms Act and the Explosives Act.

The FIR was registered on July 16, 200, after Hawara and co-accused including Kamaljit Singh alias Mann were alleged to have decided to do illegal acts so as to wage war against the Government of India, create Khalistan and revive terrorism in the country. It was also alleged that arms and ammunition and

explosive substances such as RDX were recovered from the accused people. Kamaljit Singh alias Mann was convicted in the case in 2008 in a special trial.

Hawara’s counsel, AS Chahal and DS Jandiala, argued that he was falsely implicated in the case.

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The additional district and sessions court, which acquitted Hawara, is yet to release the detailed order.

Beant Singh was killed in a bomb blast outside the Punjab and Haryana secretariat on August 31, 1995. The blast killed 17 others including Punjab police constable Dilawar Singh, who acted as a human bomb.

Among the convicts in the case, Hawara and Balwant Singh Rajoana were sentenced to death. However, Hawara appealed against the order at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which commuted his sentence to life imprisonment till death. He is lodged at Mandoli Jail in New Delhi.

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