On Monday, the Supreme Court directed the Secretary to the President of India to present the mercy petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a death row convict in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, to President Droupadi Murmu.
The Court also urged President Murmu to consider the petition within two weeks.
A special bench led by Justice BR Gavai, along with Justices PK Mishra and KV Viswanathan, was hearing Rajoana’s writ petition, challenging the 12-year delay in the consideration of his mercy plea, which seeks commutation of his death sentence.
Deadline Set For Mercy Petition Decision
The Supreme Court expressed its dissatisfaction with the delay and the Union government’s failure to file a response on the matter.
The Bench emphasized that if Rajoana’s mercy petition was not decided within the stipulated two-week period, it would move forward with considering his request for interim release.
The Court had earlier adjourned the case, allowing additional time for the Solicitor General to consult the President’s office.
When no response received, the Court took a firmer stance, reminding the government of the urgent need to address the matter.
Earlier Developments In The Case
This is not the first time Rajoana has approached the Supreme Court regarding his death sentence.
In May of the previous year, the Court had rejected his plea for commutation, stating that such sensitive decisions were within the executive’s jurisdiction.
The case has marked by complexity, particularly as Rajoana himself did not submit a mercy petition until after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) filed one on his behalf in 2012.
Despite the absence of an official petition from Rajoana, the Court had earlier directed that the competent authority review the matter and take appropriate action.
Rajoana’s counsel had been seeking a decision on the mercy petition, which had been pending for several years, and the recent ruling reinforces the urgency for a resolution.
The 1995 Bomb Blast & Legal Proceedings
Officials convicted Rajoana for his role in the bomb blast that killed Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, along with 16 others, in August 1995.
The attack, which also left a dozen people injured, was part of a larger conspiracy involving Rajoana and several co-accused individuals.
After his arrest on 27 January 1996, authorities tried Rajoana alongside eight other conspirators.
In 2007, a trial court sentenced Rajoana to death, along with his co-accused Jagtar Singh Hawara and others.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the death sentence in December 2010 but commuted Hawara’s sentence to life imprisonment.
Rajoana, however, did not appeal the decision, and his case remained largely stagnant in the judicial process until his mercy plea was eventually submitted.
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