The Supreme Court of India on Monday directed the President's Secretary to present the pending mercy petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a death-row prisoner, to the President. The court requested that a decision be made within two weeks. Rajoana was sentenced to death for his role in the 1995 assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
A special bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra, and KV Viswanathan warned that if the mercy petition is not addressed in this timeframe, the court may consider granting interim relief to Rajoana.
During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Rajoana, criticised the government's delays. He argued that the case does not involve national security and urged for a timely decision. However, a lawyer for the state of Punjab mentioned that the central government previously cited a national security threat if Rajoana were to be released.
The Supreme Court expressed frustration over the absence of a central government representative, noting that a special bench was convened specifically for this case. The court had previously postponed the hearing to give the Union of India time to get instructions from the President's office.
In its official order, the court emphasised that this session was scheduled solely to address Rajoana's petition. It requested the President's Secretary to present the case to the President for consideration within two weeks. If no decision is reached by the next hearing date, set for December 5 at 10:30 am, the court indicated it might grant interim relief.
The hearing is focused on the delay in resolving Rajoana's mercy petition. At the last hearing, the court stated it would not consider releasing Rajoana without first hearing from both the central government and the state of Punjab.
Balwant Singh Rajoana, who has ties to the Babbar Khalsa militant group, is asking for his death sentence to be reduced to life imprisonment. This request is based on a prolonged delay in deciding his mercy plea. He has been in jail for nearly 29 years, and his legal team argues that the delay in addressing his plea is unreasonable.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the central government, previously informed the court that Rajoana's mercy plea was still under review by the President, asking for additional time to confirm its status.
Rajoana's appeal is based on a delay of over a year in deciding his plea, which remains unresolved. He also points to the length of his imprisonment: nearly 29 years, including 17 years as a death-row inmate, part of which was spent in solitary confinement.
The death sentence relates to the murder of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was killed in a bomb blast in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. In 2019, the central government announced plans to commute Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment as part of the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev. However, this decision has yet to be put into action.
In 2020, Rajoana formally requested a reduction of his sentence. The Supreme Court then instructed the central government to make a decision on the matter. In May 2024, the court declined to commute the sentence but urged that the mercy petition be handled promptly. The Ministry of Home Affairs has cited national security concerns as a reason for delaying a decision.
Rajoana's death sentence was initially imposed by a Chandigarh court on July 27, 2007, and upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in October 2010. He did not appeal this ruling.
His execution, initially scheduled for March 31, 2012, was halted just days before, on March 28, 2012, following a mercy plea from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a Sikh religious organization.
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