Jagtar Singh Hawara ( pa, ਜਗਤਾਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਹਵਾਰਾ; born 16 May 1973) is a

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ' ...

political prisoner and member of Babbar Khalsa who has been serving as the

Sarbat Khalsa Sarbat Khalsa (lit. meaning ''all the Khalsa''; Punjabi: ( Gurumukhi)), was a biannual deliberative assembly (on the same lines as a Parliament in a Direct Democracy) of the Sikhs held at Amritsar in Panjab during the 18th century. It litera ...

appointed

jathedar of the Akal Takht The Jathedar of the Akal Takht ( pa, ਜੱਥੇਦਾਰ ਅਕਾਲ ਤਖ਼ਤ ਸਾਹਿਬ) is the head of the Akal Takht and head of the Sikhs worldwide. The jathedar has the de facto power as the supreme spokesperson of the Khalsa t ...

since 2015. He was convicted as a co-conspirator in the assassination of the 12th chief minister of Punjab, Beant Singh, accused of human rights violation in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Early and personal life

Jagtar Singh Hawara was born on 17 May 1970, at Hawara, a small village in

Fatehgarh Sahib Fatehgarh Sahib is a city and a sacred pilgrimage site of Sikhism in the north west Indian state of Punjab. It is the headquarters of Fatehgarh Sahib district, located about north of Sirhind. Fatehgarh Sahib is named after Fateh Singh, the 7 ...

, Punjab. His mother's name is Narinder Kaur. In 2005, Hawara married Balwinder Kaur, daughter of Dara Singh at a gurdwara in village Dohla. On 3 March 2006, Balwinder Kaur's petition for annulment of marriage was adjourned. Kaur claimed to had stayed with Sahib Singh, an alias of Jagtar Singh Hawara for just 11 days, after which she was dropped off at her parents’ house, where Hawara stayed for a day.

Trial

Murder accusations

Hawara was accused of killing special police officer Sunil Kumar at the

Shaheedi Jor Mela Shaheedi Sabha (earlier ''Shaheedi jod Mela'') is a three-day annual religious congregation (get-together) organised every year in December at Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib, in the Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab, India to pay homage to the marty ...

at Chamkaur Sahib on 21 December 1992. However he was acquitted of the charge in February 2017.

Assassination of the 12th chief minister of Punjab

On 31 August 1995, Dilawar Singh Babbar, a human bomb assassinated former chief minister Beant Singh by blowing up his bullet-proof car at the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which ...

. Seventeen people were killed and fifteen others injured. Jagtar Singh Hawara was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination. A

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

report on Punjab concluded that the police in Punjab under former chief minister Beant Singh "engaged in human rights abuses in the name of fighting terrorism." In 2007, Hawara was trialed in a Chandigarh court and sentenced

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

. After filing an appeal, the

Punjab and Haryana High Court Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 85 consisting of 64 ...

in October 2010 converted his death penalty to life imprisonment. He has further appealed his case in the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India (IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

, where it is currently pending.

2004 Burail jailbreak

In 2004, Hawara came back into the limelight when he escaped from maximum security jail in Burail, Chandigarh, along with two other Sikh prisoners by digging a 90 feet tunnel with his bare hands. He was recaptured in 2005 from Delhi. and imprisoned at

Tihar Jail Tihar Prisons, also called Tihar Jail and Tihar Ashram, is a prison complex in India and the largest complex of prisons in South Asia. Run by Department of Delhi Prisons, Government of Delhi, the prison contains nine central prisons, and is one ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

Jathedar of the Akal Takht (2015-present)

A Sarbat Khalsa held on 10 November 2015 at Chabba village in

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Maj ...

, Punjab declared Jagtar Singh Hawara to replace Gurbachan Singh as the jathedar of the Akal Takht. Due to the political imprisonment of Hawara, the

deliberative assembly A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Etymology In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the British Parliament as a "deliberative assembly," and the expression became ...

appointed Dhian Singh Mand as the acting jathedar. However, Avtar Singh Makkar, the then president of the

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; "Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee") is an organization in India responsible for the management of Gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship in states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the union ...

condemned the convening as against the principles of Sikhism and its decisions null and void.At Sarbat Khalsa, hardliners appoint Hawara Akal Takht Jathedar
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawara, Jagtar Singh 1973 births Escapees from Indian detention Jathedars of the Akal Takht Khalistan movement people Living people People acquitted of murder Punjabi people