LUDHIANA, Punjab—A team of Sikhs today met President of India Pranab Mukherjee to aware him about the hunger strike of Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa. They acquainted the president with human rights abuses of Bapu Ji and his son, and sought the release of Sikh political prisoners who have already served the mandatory terms of their sentences.
The delegation was led by IAS Swarn Singh and included Bapu Ji’s daughter Bibi Sarvarinder Kaur, Jaswant Singh Mann, Dr. Bhagwan Singh and Bhai Gurdeep Singh Bathinda. These Sikhs talked with the president for about 15 minutes and submitted a memorandum. The meeting was organized by efforts of IAS Swarn Singh.
Pranab Mukherjee listened very carefully and promised to discuss the matter with the Government. It is important to mention that the President of India has authority to remit or commute sentences of prisoners. The President’s authority does not come under the Supreme Court ruling that put a stay on release of prisoners.
Shortly after the meeting with Pranab Mukherjee, while the delegation was on its way back to Ludhiana from New Delhi, they received a call from from Ludhiana Police stating that Bapu Ji is being released and all charges have been dropped. The family, along with others in the delegation were caught by a surprise. A High Court hearing was scheduled to take place on April 28 regarding wrongful detention of Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa and his son.
