SC gives Centre last chance to file affidavit on Rajoana's plea

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted the last opportunity to the Centre and asked it to file an affidavit within two weeks on the plea of death-row prisoner Balwant Singh Rajoana, held guilty for the assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995. Rajoana, in his plea, sought commutation of his death sentence on the grounds of delay in considering the mercy petition pending before the President of India since 2012. Rajoana has been in jail for more than 29 years, of which he has been on death row for over 17 years.

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Supreme Court's Final Warning on Pending Plea

During the hearing, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi asked the counsel appearing for the Centre as to why the government has not filed its affidavit in the case so far. The counsel said the government wants to place some documents before the court in a sealed cover. "You place your affidavit, whatever you want to say," said the bench and made clear that no more time would be granted.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, told the bench that the mercy plea filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on his behalf in March 2012 is still pending. The apex court had in 2023 said the authorities should take a call on the mercy plea. On January 20, 2024, the top court had asked the Centre to take a decision on his mercy petition by March 18 after the Centre sought more time to decide the mercy petition. The Centre had maintained that the matter is "sensitive" as it's related to the murder of a sitting Chief Minister and sought time to decide the mercy petition, saying the government is considering it.

Rajoana's Plea for Commutation

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. Rajoana sought commutation of the death sentence on the grounds of 'extraordinary' and 'inordinate delay' 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 almost 29 years, 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.

Case Background and Legal Timeline

The convict, 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, Rajoana 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 2023, 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 the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) -- a Sikh religious body, filed a mercy petition with the President. (ANI)