Sukhpreet Kaur, wife of Sarabjit Singh who was jailed in Pakistan, dies in road accident

Sukhpreet Kaur, who was married to Indian national Sarabjit Singh who got jailed in Pakistan almost a decade ago, died in a road accident on Monday. According to reports, Kaur had passed away late Monday night in Amritsar, Punjab.

Singh's wife Sukhpreet Kaur was a pillion rider on a two-wheeler when she accidentally fell from it near Fatehpur in Punjab, said police. She was taken to a hospital where she breathed her last, they said, as per PTI reports.

Her cremation will take place at her native place Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran on Tuesday. She is survived by two daughters Poonam and Swapandeep Kaur.

This comes just a few months after Sarabjit Singh’s sister Dalbir Kaur had also passed away after experiencing chest pains. Kaur had been the one to raise her voice against the imprisonment of Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan, where he eventually died.

Sarabjit Singh died at the age of 49 following an attack on him by the inmates of a Lahore prison in April 2013. He was convicted of alleged terrorism and spying by a Pakistani court and sentenced to death in 1991. However, the government stayed in his execution for an indefinite period in 2008.

After his death, Sarabjit's body was brought from Lahore to Amritsar where his last rites were held.

Though Singh was convicted for orchestrating a series of bomb attacks in Pakistan, the Indian authorities maintained that he was just a farmer who had accidentally strayed from his land in Punjab to Pakistan since it was on the border, three months after the bombings.

The case revolving around Sarabjit Singh had caught major traction across the country, and also put a strain on the relations between India and Pakistan. Several mercy petitions were also filed against his execution and a campaign named ‘Free Sarabjit Singh’ was also launched in India.

(With PTI inputs)

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