Hawara, Balwant hearing together

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday decided to hear together the pleas by Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh, who have been handed down death sentence by the trial court in July 2007, and not separately.
An order to this effect was given by the division bench of justices KS Garewal and Nawab Singh on the appeal by Jagtar Singh Hawara against the conviction and death sentence for having assassinated the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and 17 others in a bomb blast at the civil secretariat building on August 31, 1995.Some other associates of Hawara were given life imprisonment in the same case.
However, Balwant Singh, who opted against appealing, has instead sought the confirmation of the death sentence by the high court on the mandatory reference made by the trial court and to execute the hanging at the earliest. All the accused convicted in this case are presently lodged in Burail jail. The bench made it clear that the reference of the conviction and the sentence in the present cases would be taken up together and not separately. The bench has appointed advocate SS Dinapur as amicus curaei to assist the court in the plea made by Balwant Singh for confirmation of death sentence and for hanging him at the earliest. The matter would now come up for further hearing on October 20.