Decide on Balwant Singh Rajoana's plea in 2 months: SC

New Delhi, May 2

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to take a decision in two months on the mercy petition of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana in the former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh assassination case.

A three-judge Bench led by Justice UU Lalit said the decision should be taken without being influenced by pending appeals of other convicts in the case and posted the matter for further hearing in the second week of July.

Convicted of assassinating Beant Singh in 1995, Rajoana has been in jail for 25 years awaiting his execution. The former Punjab CM and 16 others were killed in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh in 1995. He was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special court. His mercy petition has been hanging fire for more than eight years.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had said the mercy petition can’t be considered as it was filed by another organisation and not Rajoana himself and that it can’t be decided until the appeals of other convicts was decided by the top court.

Interestingly, Rajoana has not challenged his conviction or sentence. The Bench, however, said the authorities have sent several official communications to Rajoana. Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj contested the petitioner’s contention that in 2019 a final decision was taken to commute his death penalty.