1981 AI hijack: After 36 years, two Sikh militants granted bail

New Delhi, July 20: A court in Delhi granted bail to two Sikh militants, accused of hijacking an Air India plane in 1981 to Lahore, Pakistan.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jyoti Kler granted bail to Tajinder Pal Singh and Satnam Singh and asked them to furnish a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of like amount each.

The court directed them not to tamper with evidence or influence witnesses in the case. The court earlier on Tuesday granted two-day interim bail to the duo after they appeared before it.

The case against them dates back to September 29, 1981, when they allegedly hijacked an Air India plane from New Delhi en route to Srinagar via Amritsar and forced it to land in Lahore, Pakistan, where they were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Both were deported in 2000 from Pakistan after serving life-term for hijacking. They had later sought their discharge from the case but a sessions court had dismissed their plea.

In 2011, the Delhi Police had chargesheeted them under various sections 121 (waging war against the government of India), 121A (conspiring to commit certain offences against the state), 124A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Delhi High court had also dismissed their plea seeking stay on the sessions court order and asked the trial court to proceed with the matter.

IANS