Dr. Assa Singh, 96, has been finally released from prison after being granted bail by the Supreme Court of India on 17 October, 2014. Bapu Assa Singh was convicted by a TADA court in November 2012 in a more than 25 years old case.
In November 2012 a TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) court convicted 93 year old Dr Assa Singh and sentenced him to undergo 10 years of imprisonment. It is worth noting that TADA ceased to be operative in 1995 due to worldwide condemnation of its misuse. But even 17 years after TADA expired, Assa Singh along with 11 others, were all given harsh sentences in a decision that was widely considered to be political rather than judicial.
Dr Assa Singh could barely walk without support, as he stood on trial accused of a 25 year old bank robbery case in which he allegedly handled the stolen money from a Ludhiana branch of Punjab National Bank in February 1987. The case was full of flaws and lacked any evidence which was conveniently overlooked by Judge Sunil Kumar Arora.
Finally, after suffering two years of cruel and wrongful imprisonment while in his advanced years, Assa Singh has now been allowed to return back home to his family. Please watch this short video of Assa Singh taken on the day his sentence was passed