With the Intelligence Bureau (IB) telling the Supreme Court that shifting Jagtar Singh Hawara to a jail in Punjab could “significantly impact the Assembly elections” in the state, the issue of Sikh prisoners or Bandi Singhs is back in the focus.

The apex court is currently hearing a plea filed by Hawara, a convict serving a life sentence in Delhi’s Tihar jail for the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, seeking a transfer to a jail in Punjab to be closer to his ailing mother. Last week, the top court posted the matter to February 22, 2027, when the state could be in the middle of elections.

The demand for the release of Bandi Singhs has remained a recurring political issue for the past 14 years.…