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The Supreme Court on Monday asked the secretary to the President of India to place the matter of mercy petition of death-row prisoner Balwant Singh Rajoana before the President with a request to consider it within two weeks.
Rajoana 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 said that if the mercy petition is not considered within the time stipulated, it will consider the petition for granting interim relief. At the outset of the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Rajoana told the bench that the government said that it was not the right time to decide the issue. "When then after his life is over? This is not a case of national security," he added. Counsel appearing for the state of Punjab said that the Union government had submitted earlier that there is a national threat if he is released. The bench questioned the non-representation of the Centre before it and said that the special bench was constituted for this purpose only and the court had deferred the hearing of the matter on the last occasion only because the Union sought some time. The apex court then in its order noted, "The bench has been specifically assembled only for this matter. On the last date, the matter was adjourned so as to enable the Union of India to take instruction from the office of the President of India as to within how much period the mercy petition of the petitioner would be decided. We therefore direct, Secretary, the President of India to place the matter before the President within a request to consider the same within two weeks from today. We clarify that in the event no decision is taken on the next date, we will consider the prayers made by the petitioner for interim relief." The bench then posted the matter for hearing on December 5 at 10.30 am. The top court was hearing a plea relating to the delay in deciding the mercy petition of death-row prisoner Rajoana. On the last day of the hearing, the apex court said that they would only consider Rajoana's plea seeking release only after hearing from 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. Rohatgi earlier urged the top court for his temporary release saying he has been in jail for almost 29 years. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, had apprised the bench that the mercy plea was likely still under consideration with the President and requested for more time to verify its status. 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 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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