Now Reading: Punjab CM seeks parole for Beant Singh assassin
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Punjab CM seeks parole for Beant Singh assassin
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has written to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria seeking a 10-day parole for Jagtar Singh Hawara, serving life for the 1995 assassination of former CM Beant Singh. Mann…
The Story in Brief
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has written to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria seeking a 10-day parole for Jagtar Singh Hawara, serving life for the 1995 assassination of former CM Beant Singh. Mann cited Hawara's ailing elderly mother and the Punjab and Haryana High Court's direction to consider the parole application.
However, India Today reports that a February 2026 letter from the Punjab Jail Department shows the same government earlier opposed Hawara's parole, citing 25 criminal cases and adverse police recommendations. The Shiromani Akali Dal and Sikh organisations have long demanded the release of Hawara and other "Bandhi Sikhs", amid political speculation of an SAD-BJP alliance.
The Indian Opinion
The Mann government's sudden flip on Hawara's parole, opposing it in February, then pleading for it in August, looks less like humanity and more like vote-bank arithmetic. Akali Dal's meeting with PM Modi adds a sharp political edge. The question is not whether an old mother deserves compassion, but why the same Chief Minister waited four months and a High Court order to discover it. Will the Governor test the government's sincerity by asking for the earlier police reports? A yes or no on parole will settle that.
Sources (3): newindianexpress.com, indiatoday.in, timesnownews.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources.
