Decide on Rajoana plea by March 18: Top court to Centre

As the mercy petition of Beant Singh assassination case convict Balwant Singh Rajoana continues to hang fire, the Supreme Court on Monday set March 18 deadline for the Centre to take a call on the contentious issue, failing which it would proceed to decide the matter on merits.

“We are giving you the last chance… Either you decide or we will hear the case on merits,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice BR Gavai told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who represented the Centre.

“We will hear on merits on March 18… If you can decide by then… well and good,” said the Bench which also included Justice PK Mishra and Justice KV Vishwanath.

“This has been going on since the time of CJI SA Bobde (since retired). Rajoana is on death row for 15 years and he is in prison for 29 years. He should be released now,” senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi told the Bench on behalf of Rajoana. Mehta said, “It’s a murder of a sitting CM.”

Hours after directing the Secretary to the President to place the mercy petition of the Beant Singh assassination case convict before the President with a request to consider it within two weeks, the Supreme Court had on November 18, 2024 chosen to put on hold its order at the request of the Solicitor General. It had said that if Rajoana’s mercy petition was not decided within two weeks, it would consider Rajoana’s prayer for interim relief i.e. releasing him for a few months, pending a final decision on his mercy petition.

Earlier, the matter was adjourned so as to enable the Union of India to take instruction from the office of the President as to within how much period the mercy petition of the petitioner would be decided.

Convicted of assassinating Beant Singh in 1995, Rajoana (57) — a former Punjab Police constable — has been in jail for more than 28 years, awaiting his execution. The former Punjab Chief Minister and 16 others were killed in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. Rajoana was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special court. His mercy petition has been hanging fire for more than 12 years.