DIG Jails Lakhminder Singh Jakhar resigns

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DIG Jails Lakhminder Singh Jakhar resigns

Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Patiala

Punjab Jails department deputy inspector general (DIG) Lakhminder Singh Jakhar has resigned from his post in support of the farmers’ struggle.

“Indian farmer is upset,” he wrote in his resignation. They are fighting for their rights under the open sky in these cold nights. As a farmer’s son, I think I too should be a part of that struggle. Therefore, I should be released from duty with immediate effect.

DIG Jails Lakhminder Singh Jakhar resigns

Apart from this, Capt. Jakhar has also ready to forgo/ deposit his three month’s salary and other allowances, so that he may be early discharge from duty so that no legal impediment would come in accepting his resignation.

Hailing from district Abohar,Jakhar began his career with the Indian Army when he joined the 14 Punjab Nabha Akal as a second lieutenant. He rose to the rank of captain and even served as acting major before he quit the force in 1994. He told in an interview that  “I was an infantry officer and served majorly in Jammu and Kashmir. But owing to family issues,I decided to quit the Army and join the Punjab police instead.”

He had made headlines when as Superintendent of Patiala central jail he declined to carry out the death sentence awarded to Beant Singh assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana. Jakhar has probably become the country’s first jailer to have refused to carry out an execution,and as such has stood out from those involved in the politics of clemency.

Jakhar said at that time that When all three were convicted of the same crime,and when the appeals of two are pending in courts,how can the third accused,who is “not just a co-accused but also a material witness” be hanged?

December 13,2020