SC defers Balwant Singh Rajoana's plea seeking release in former Punjab CM Beant Singh's killing

New Delhi [India], November 4 : The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned by two weeks, the plea relating to delay in deciding the mercy petition of death-row prisoner Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was awarded a death sentence 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 stated 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, appearing for Rajoana, urged the bench for his temporary release, saying he has been in jail for almost 29 years.
"This man has been in custody without break for 29 years till today. Originally he was convicted for an offence of bomb explosion in 1996...," Rohatgi argued.
The bench, however, said that it required clarity on the status of the mercy plea before any decisions could be made.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, apprised the bench that the mercy plea was likely still under consideration with the President and requested for more time to verify its status.
The top court then posted the matter for hearing on November 18 and allowed the Centre and Punjab governments to clarify their respective positions.
Rajoana, a death row convict, 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 the 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 the stand of MHA to defer the decision on Rajoana's mercy petition on the grounds of national security and law and order situation.
A Chandigarh court had, on July 27, 2007, awarded a 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.