Delhi court to hear matter on 1981 Air India plane hijack today

A Delhi court on Monday will continue the hearing on the matter of hijacking on an Air India plane to Lahore, Pakistan in 1981.

In the earlier hearing, the court had granted bail to two Sikh militants, accused of the hijacking.

They were asked to furnish a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of like amount each.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had directed the state's Legal Aid Team to extend help to the two Sikhs faced with possibilities of 'double jeopardy'.

The case dates back to September 29, 1981, when the accused 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.

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).