Bhai Waryam Singh

Bhai Waryam Singh was a Sikh from Bari Bara village in the Shahjahanpur area of Uttar Pradesh. He was held for about 26 years as a TADA life convict, and Panthic campaigners counted him among the Bandi Singhs, the Sikh prisoners kept in jail long after the term they say they should have served. The newspapers give two release dates for him, and the record is clearer when they are laid in order.

Key moments

• 1990: he was arrested and was later convicted under TADA. The Tribune describes him as a TADA life convict for conspiracy in a blast case in 1990.
• Before his release: he was one of the 49 Sikh detainees for whom the Sikh activist Surat Singh Khalsa had been campaigning for over two years. Advocate Jaspal Singh Manjhpur said he should have been freed after 14 years and that he was made to serve double that for political reasons, which is why campaigners call such prisoners political prisoners.
• 13 October 2015: according to Sikh Siyasat, the Government of India cleared his premature release.
• 17 December 2015: Sikh Siyasat reported that he walked out of jail that day, aged 70, on premature release. The Tribune later quoted Uttar Pradesh's jails minister, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, as saying that the December release was on parole.
• 18 February 2016: after watching his conduct on parole, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav approved his full release on humanitarian grounds, and The Tribune reported that he was set free after almost 26 years. He was the first of the listed detainees to walk free, and the Tribune noted that his case could open the way for similar cases in states such as Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
• 2020: he died, five years after his release.

What he is remembered for. His case is cited by Panthic campaigners as a plain example of a prisoner held far beyond the 14 years that, in Manjhpur's words, he should have served. Ramoowalia, who says he drove the effort to free him, has claimed the credit for the file that led to the release, and Sikh Siyasat and the Tribune differ on how the December and February releases fit together. They are best read as two stages: out on parole in December 2015, freed in February 2016.