Dalbir Kaur, who was the sister of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh jailed in Pakistan, died at the age of 67 on June 26. She took her last breath in a private hospital in Amritsar, Punjab, where she was brought in after she complained of chest pain and shortness of breath.
Dalbir had been suffering from a lung infection for the past year, said Poonam, Sarabjit Singh's daughter. When she was admitted to the hospital, doctors described her condition as severe, and she was transferred to the ICU, where she was put on a ventilator after a few minutes.
Dalbir Kaur was the sister of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national who was imprisoned in Pakistan and was later killed by inmates inside the jail in 2013. Kaur had led a life of struggle and heartbreak after she singlehandedly fought for justice for her brother, who was trapped in Pakistan’s jail.
Sarabjit Singh was caught and imprisoned by Pakistani officials after he had crossed the national border. Singh was accused of being a spy and a terrorist in Pakistan and was imprisoned for allegedly carrying out bomb blasts in the country.
Singh was later convicted for his alleged role in a bomb blast and was sentenced to death in 1991. He was accused of coming to Pakistan in the guise of one Manjit Singh. Dalbir Kaur had claimed that her brother was trapped in a case of mistaken identity, and she started the legal battle of bringing him back to India.
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Dalbir Kaur raised her voice against the injustice being faced by her brother in the jail in Pakistan, and her legal battle soon caught the national eye. Her struggles were recognized by the national and international media, and many stood by her in her battle for the freedom of Sarabjit.
Unfortunately, Sarabjit Singh died before he became a free man. Singh was brutally beaten by inmates inside Pakistan’s Kot Lakhpat Jail on April 26, 2013, and succumbed to his injuries a few days later.
The story of Dalbir Kaur and Sarabjit Singh touched many hearts and was also represented in a famous Bollywood movie ‘Sarabjit’, where Randeep Hooda and Aishwarya Rai played the parts of the siblings.
Randeep Hooda was also seen at the last rites of Dalbir Kaur, which were conducted yesterday. Hooda has said that he will always stand by Kaur’s cause, and she was like a sister to him in real life.
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