:dateline: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.
