Bhai Lal Singh Akalgarh

Bhai Lal Singh, known as Lal Singh Akalgarh, is one of the Bandi Singhs, the Sikh prisoners held for offences from the years of the Kharku Sangharsh. He was arrested on 14 July 1992. On 8 January 1997 a designated TADA court of Ahmadabad Rural at Mirzapur in Gujarat sentenced him to life imprisonment under sections 3 and 5 of the TADA Act, section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, section 5 of the Explosives Act and section 25(1)(a) of the Arms Act. He was held in the Maximum Security Jail at Nabha. Sikh Siyasat News does not describe the incident behind the case (Sikh Siyasat News).

• 2011 to 2016: his case went through the courts. In May 2011 the High Court extended his parole until Gujarat decided on his life sentence. In August and September 2012 it asked Gujarat to consider premature release and held that life imprisonment should not be read as lifelong incarceration. In December 2013 Punjab granted him parole during Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa's hunger strike. On 29 June 2016 the Supreme Court set aside a High Court order and allowed him to petition the Union government.
• September 2019: the Centre announced the early release of eight Sikh prisoners as a goodwill gesture for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji (The Tribune). Sikh Siyasat News says he was on the list.
• 3 March 2020: the Gujarat government sent the release order to the Nabha jail. The Punjab government delayed it, citing "technical" reasons.
• 24 August 2020: he was released for good after about 28 years. His advocate, Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, said he should have been freed more than a decade earlier, and the report notes that prisoners with life sentences are usually granted premature release after 10 to 14 years.
• After release he joined Panthic statements: in October 2022 one on uniting Sikhs on Gurmat, in December 2022 a joint statement opposing the government's Vir Bal Divas announcement as a distortion of Sikh tradition, and in May 2023 a joint statement on the sewa of Sri Akal Takht Sahib (Sikh Siyasat News).

He is remembered as one of the Bandi Singhs whose case raised the question of how long a life sentence should run. The High Court held in his case that life imprisonment should not be read as lifelong, yet he was freed 28 years after his arrest and almost a year after the Centre announced his release.