SGPC to meet on Nov 30 to discuss Balwant Singh Rajoana mercy plea

Tribune News Service

Amritsar/Patiala, Nov 28

After meeting as former Chief Minister Beant Singh assassination case convict Balwant Singh Rajoana in jail in Patiala, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has called up an emergency meeting of its executives on November 30 to discuss the future course of action in ensuring his release.

SGPC general secretary Rajinder Singh Mehta said the meeting had been scheduled on a 72-hour notice, with the sole case of Rajoana being taken on a priority.

Mehta had accompanied SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami and others to meet Rajoana today.

After this meeting, a letter was also issued by Rajoana, in which he has appealed to the SGPC president to withdraw the mercy petition of commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment filed on his behalf, but was lying pending with the President of India to take a decision.

Rajoana has stated that if this petition was not withdrawn by December 5, he would go on hunger strike in the jail.

In a letter to SAD president today, Rajoana said no one in Delhi and Punjab seemed to be bothered about the mercy plea, which has been pending for the last 12 years.

“I have been in jail for the past 28 years and awaiting death penalty for 17 years. It is saddening to see that despite being an ally of the Central Government for many years, the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership could not get the issue resolved,” he stated.

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