Sarabjit should be declared a martyr: Family

Sarabjit Singh's wife Sukhpreet Kaur, right, sister Dalbir Kaur, second from left, and daughters Poonam, left, and Swapandeep hold hands and walk after entering Indian soil at the India-Pakistan border area of Wagah, India, Wednesday, May 1, 2013. The family members traveled to Pakistan Sunday to meet Singh, an Indian spy on death row in Pakistan, who was critically injured Friday when he was attacked with a brick by two other prisoners inside a prison in the eastern city of Lahore. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill)

The family of Sarabjit Singh, Indian prisoner who succumbed to injuries after being brutally assaulted in a Lahore jail, has demanded that his body be handed over to them and he should be declared a “martyr“.

The family has set forth demand to the Union Home Ministry including that Sarabjit’s body be cremated with full state honours, Raj Kumar Verka, Vice Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes, told PTI.

They have also demanded that the Centre take full responsibility of the family, Mr. Verka said.

The government will hold a meeting on Thursday to consider the demands of Sarabjit’s family, he added.

Sarabjit’s family, which had had gone to Pakistan on a 15-day visa on Sunday, two days after the assault, returned to India on Wednesday.

His wife Sukhpreet Kaur, daughters Poonam and Swapandeep Kaur and sister Dalbir Kaur had crossed over into India from Lahore through land border.

Mr. Verka said Sarabjit’s family members, who are with him at his New Delhi residence, are in a state of shock after receiving the news of his death.

He said he has forwarded the demands to the Union Home Ministry and is in touch with the Central leaders, including Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.