Punjab not keen on hanging Beant killer
The
hanging of Balwant Singh, convicted for the assassination of former Punjab
chief minister Beant Singh, lodged in the central jail in Patiala, has sparked
controversy.
A Chandigarh court had pronounced
the death by hanging for the convict last week here, following which Punjab and
the Chandigarh administration have been locked in a tug-of-war.
The Punjab prison department has
expressed its reservation on executing the court order, saying that it did not
have any hangman for the purpose, and moreover since the crime took place in
Chandigarh, it had no legal obligation to execute the punishment in Punjab.
Punjab has also taken exception
to the court order saying that it had no such understanding with the Chandigarh
administration. Meanwhile, many radical Sikh organisations have been up in arms
in Punjab against the court verdict.
The last hanging in Punjab was
carried out on June 16, 1989 by hangman Kaloo, who was specially summoned from
the Tihar Jail in Delhi.
DGP (Jails) Shashi Kant said the
Punjab home department was exploring legal options as to how “the execution
orders by a Chandigarh court pertaining to the hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana
could be sent back without being executed.”
Another dimension to it has been
Punjab’s reluctance to rattle the Sikh radical feathers, for it comes as a
setback for the newly formed Akali Dal-BJP government.
The DGP visited the high security
Patiala jail to assess the situation on Sunday and held a closed-door meeting
with the jail officials.
The DGPcited a 1983 agreement
between Chandigarh and Punjab, wherein it was stated that the condemned
prisoners could be kept in the Central Jail, Patiala, in lieu of daily lodging
and boarding charges.
“However there is no provision
that such prisoners would be hanged in the Central Jail, Patiala,” they said.
