New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central government to decide by the March 18 petition of death-row prisoner Balwant Singh Rajoana, seeking commutation of the death sentence awarded to him for the assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan adjourned the matter for hearing on March 18 after the Centre sought more time to decide the mercy petition.
The bench gave the last chance to the Centre and posted the matter for hearing on March 18.
The apex said it would grant more time to Centre, however, on the next hearing if the government has not decided the case, the court will hear the matter on merits.
“We will grant you time by way of last chance. Either you take a decision or we will hear on merits,” the bench said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre, told the bench that matter is “sensitive” as it’s related to murder of a sitting Chief Minister and sought four to six weeks to decide the mercy petition saying government is considering it.
On the last date of hearing, Mehta had sought more time to decide the case and had said that the matter is “sensitive” and more inputs from other agencies are required.
The top court was hearing a plea relating to delay in deciding mercy petition of death-row prisoner Rajoana. Rajoana sought commutation on the ground of delay in considering the mercy petition filed by him.
Earlier, the apex court had said that they would only consider Rajoana’s plea seeking release only after hearing the Union government and the state of Punjab.
Rajoana, a sympathiser of the Babbar Khalsa militant group, sought the commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment in connection with his role in the assassination of Beant Singh.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Rajoana, had earlier urged the top court for his temporary release saying he has been in jail for almost 29 years.
Rajoana sought commutation of the death sentence on the grounds of ‘extraordinary’ and ‘inordinate delay’ of one year and four months in deciding his mercy petition, which remains pending before the President of India.
The petition sought consequential release on the grounds that he has undergone a total sentence of 28 years and eight months as of date, of which 17 years have been served as a death row convict in an 8″ x 10″ capital punishment cell, including 2.5 years in solitary confinement.
The convict, Balwant Singh Rajoana, was sentenced to death for the murder of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh who died in a bomb explosion in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.
The Centre had decided on September 27, 2019 to commute the death penalty of Rajoana to a life sentence on the special occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. However, the decision is yet to be implemented.
In 2020, Singh filed a petition seeking the commutation of the death penalty. The apex court had then asked Central government to take a call with respect to the mercy petition.
In May 2024 the top court declined to commute the death penalty but directed that the mercy petition be decided by a competent authority in due course of time. It noted tha stand of MHA to defer the decision on Rajoana’s mercy petition on the ground of national security and law and order situation.
A Chandigarh court had, on July 27, 2007, awarded death sentence to Rajoana which was upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on October 12, 2010. Rajoana has not filed an appeal against the decision of the High Court.
Rajoana was scheduled to be hanged on March 31, 2012, however, the execution was stayed on March 28, 2012, by the then Central government after Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) — a Sikh religious body, filed a mercy petition with the President. (ANI)
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