Inderjit Singh Reyat, the lone person convicted for the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing, which killed all 329 people on board, was on Wednesday released from prison in Canada after serving two decades behind bars. But an indepth study of Reyat shows him to be a classic “Patsy”, who was used by others in name of alleged “Holy War”. He also got five years for another manslaughter charge in the Air India bombing.
Advertisement
A spokesman for the Canadian Parole Board confirmed Reyat’s statutory release after serving two-thirds of a nine-year sentence. He was found guilty in 2010 and was sentenced to nine years in prison – the longest prison sentence for perjury in Canadian history.
Patrick Storey, Pacific regional manager of the Parole Board of Canada, said Reyat has reached his statutory release date.
The bombings were believed to be reactions to Operation Blue Star in 1984, in which the Indian army had moved to flush out Sikh militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and targeted many others in Punjab on Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s orders.
It says that Reyat’s association with the group that blew up Air India was “inactive while incarcerated”, but that his “affiliation has not been terminated”.
In just an hour from then another bomb on yet another Air India flight from Tokyo to Mumbai went off during luggage transfer at the Tokyo airport, killing two baggage handlers.
“He will be with his family, children or wife…but for the [victim] families, it is a life-long punishment”, Gupta said.
As per the Corrections and Conditional Releases Act, Reyat will now be required to abide by certain conditions and serve the rest of his sentence in the community.
Yet twice before when Reyat was eligible for statutory release after manslaughter convictions, government applications were made for special parole hearings that led to Reyat being imprisoned until the end of his full sentence. But the Parole Board only responds to a referral from the Correctional Services of Canada for a detention.
In 2010, he was also convicted of lying while testifying to the mass murder trial of co-accused Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were later acquitted because of lack of evidence.
On 23 June 1985, Air India Flight 182 exploded over the coast of Ireland on its way to Heathrow Airport in London.
Advertisement
Canadian federal police continue to investigate the bombings, 30 years on.
