CHANDIGARH, Punjab—Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara, former Babbar Khalsa activist and Chief of Bhindranwala Tiger Force, began a hunger strike in Burail Jail on February 29. Bhai Tara’s hunger strike is against the Burail Jail authorities, who have denied him the right to communicate with his family, a violation of a court order from January 6. The court order also gave him the right to meet other prisoners of the jail, a right which has also been denied by the jail authorities. Bhai Tara is currently being in solitary confinement in the Burail Jail.
“Despite the court’s legal directive to the jail personnel, the jail authorities didn’t facilitate the call [to his family] or allow him to meet the other prisoners,” said Advocate Simranjit Singh, Bhai Tara’s lawyer. The court’s order had held that Bhai Tara could use a specific phone number to speak with his family and also that he could meet the other Sikh political prisoners being held in the same jail.
Simranjit Singh also stated that the City Administration of Chandigarh had appealed the lower court’s verdict in the High Court. The High Court then summoned Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara to appear on March 4. Simranjit Singh said that the jail authorities didn’t receive the court order until March 3, which led him to miss the court session. He said that the jail authorities were biased towards Bhai Tara and he was being unfairly treated.
Is there no law for the Jail Authorities – or is it again that the law is turning a blind eye when it comes to the treatment of sikhs!