A Delhi court on Monday acquitted two Khalistan supporters in connection with the hijacking of an Air India plane in 1981, ANI reported.

Satnam Singh and Tajender Pal Singh were charged with treason and waging war against the state for hijacking the plane, which was en route to New Delhi from Srinagar, and diverting it to Lahore in Pakistan. The two served life terms in Pakistan and were deported to India in 2000.

On September 29, 1981, five knife-wielding Khalistani supporters fighting for an independent Sikh homeland hijacked the aircraft with 111 passengers and six crew members on board. The next day in Lahore, the hijackers initially released more than 60 passengers. Later, Pakistani commandos captured the separatists and set free the remaining hostages.

Last year, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had asked the state’s legal aid team to assist the two men as they had already served life terms in Pakistan, reported the Hindustan Times. “While the hijacking was condemnable, any attempt to prosecute the two, who had already done life terms in Pakistan for the same crime, will amount to a serious travesty of justice,” Singh had said in a statement.