Overview
- Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday wrote to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria asking that Hawara be allowed 10 days' parole to meet his ailing mother.
- The request marks a reversal of the state's earlier stance, which had forwarded Hawara's parole file with an unfavourable recommendation based on multiple criminal cases and adverse police reports.
- The Punjab and Haryana High Court directed prison authorities to decide Hawara's parole in a time-bound way after seeking recommendations from the Chandigarh administration.
- Hawara is a member of the banned group Babbar Khalsa, was convicted as a conspirator in the 1995 assassination of Beant Singh, had his death sentence commuted to life, and has appeals pending in the Supreme Court.
- The parole bid has clear political stakes because Sikh leaders and regional parties have long campaigned for prisoner releases and the decision will put BJP-governed Chandigarh and Delhi authorities under pressure ahead of the state polls.