CHANDIGARH: Five personnel of the Punjab police, serving time in different jails for offences committed during militancy in Punjab, will be released from jail after the Centre approved a proposal of the state government requesting their release, officials said on Monday. These included one SP, four DSP rank officers, 8 inspectors, a sub-inspector, one ASI besides others who were convicted in different cases of fake encounters, kidnapping and alleged atrocities.
“The government has accepted the request of the Punjab government for grant of special remission and release of five Punjab Police personnel undergoing sentence in different jails...,” a home ministry official said. The decision comes a fortnight after the Home Ministry decided to commute the death sentence of former Punjab CM Beant Singh’s killer Balwant Singh Rajoana.
The ministry had also announced the release of eight Sikh prisoners, lodged in jails, for committing crimes during the militancy period in Punjab. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh welcomed the Centre’s decision taken on “humanitarian grounds”. While the identity of the five could not be known, sources said that the personnel were serving time for committing human rights violations.