NEW DELHI: Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Thursday said he has recommended parole for Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is serving a life sentence for the assassination of former chief minister Beant Singh and had sought relief to meet his ailing mother.His statement came a day after Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann urged Kataria to intervene and facilitate Hawara’s parole.Former Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, who is the former chief minister’s grandson, had also called for Hawara to be granted parole. Beant Singh was killed in a suicide bombing in Chandigarh in 1995.“His mother is unwell. We have recommended his case on humanitarian grounds,” Kataria told reporters.The governor’s intervention was required as Hawara’s parole plea is being considered in Delhi.Earlier, Mann on Wednesday backed parole for Hawara on humanitarian grounds, saying his ailing mother had a “renewed hope” of meeting her son after 31 years.The chief minister said Kataria, who is also the administrator of Chandigarh, had assured him that he would take up the matter with the Union home secretary. Mann had earlier written to Kataria, seeking 10-day parole for Hawara.Bittu, meanwhile, expressed hope that the competent authorities would consider the request expeditiously and take an appropriate decision in accordance with law.He reiterated that while his family would always honour the “supreme sacrifice” of Beant Singh, it also believed that compassion, humanity and peace should guide society forward.
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Last month, the Punjab and Haryana high court directed authorities at Delhi’s Mandoli prison, where Hawara is lodged, to decide his parole application in a time-bound manner after obtaining recommendations from the Chandigarh administration.Kataria, the Punjab governor, also serves as the administrator of Chandigarh.Hawara was initially sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted by the high court. He is serving a life sentence in connection with the blast that killed Beant Singh and 16 others.
