Beant Singh assassination: Delhi HC directs jail authorities to provide treatment to Jagtar Singh Hawara at AIIMS

The Delhi High Court has directed the Tihar Jail authorities to provide Neurological examination and treatment to Jagtar Singh Hawara at the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Hawara is a life convict in the former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh assassination case and is serving a life term in Tihar Jail. He is suffering from some neurological problems and had moved the High Court seeking treatment at a private hospital.

Justice Yashwant Varma after perusal of the status report and list of hospitals on Wednesday directed the Tihar Jail authorities to take Hawara to AIIMS for examination and treatment in the Neurological department.

The High Court also directed the authorities to ensure that all medical procedures that are warranted are undertaken with the expedition. The authorities shall further ensure that all security protocols are adhered to, the order reads.

Jagtar Singh Hawara moved a petition in the High Court seeking direction from the jail superintendent to provide treatment to him in a private hospital of his choice. He also undertook to bear the expenses of treatment and security.

Senior Advocates Maninder Singh and Aekta Vats submitted on behalf of Hawara that he is a life convict and lodged in a high-risk ward of Tihar Jail for 26 years. He is suffering from a clot in the right upper side of his head located near his forehead.

Hawara was arrested along with his other accomplices after the assassination of Beant Singh. In 2004, he escaped from the Burail jail by digging a tunnel and was again arrested in June 2005.

Hawara was sentenced to death on July 27, 2007, for the murder of the former Punjab chief minister who died in a bomb explosion in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. Beant Singh was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1992 to 1995.

The counsels had further submitted that the petitioner requires immediate treatment and prays for the operation to be conducted in a private hospital. The petitioner is ready to incur the expenses for the said treatment as well as for his transportation and security arrangements for the same.

The bench had directed the jail authorities to file a status report on the medical condition of the petitioner. After perusal and hearing of the submission, the bench had directed the authorities to furnish a list of government hospitals which have neurological treatment facilities.

The jail authorities produced a list of four hospitals including AIIMS. The counsels who appeared for the petitioner submitted that the patient would be satisfied if the requisite examination and procedure is undertaken at AIIMS hospital.

The petition stated that the petitioner Hawara was awarded a death sentence by the Chandigarh court in the case filed by CBI. Later on, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment with the direction that he, 'shall not be released from prison till the rest of his life'.

( With inputs from ANI )