Ex-CM’s murder: SC seeks responses from Centre, Punjab govt on death row convict’s plea

PTI, Sep 27, 2024, 6:39 PM IST

The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre, Punjab government and others on a plea by Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination case of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, seeking directions to commute his death sentence to life term due to the “inordinate delay” in deciding his mercy petition.

Rajoana has sought the apex court’s direction to the respondent authorities to commute his death sentence “due to inordinate delay” in its execution and in deciding the “mercy petition filed on his behalf”. The plea said consequentially, a direction be issued for his release.

The apex court had on May 3 last year declined to commute his death penalty and said the competent authority may deal with his mercy plea.

In his fresh plea filed in the top court, Rajoana has said he has undergone a total sentence of about 28 years and eight months, of which 17 years have been served as a death row convict.

Rajoana was sentenced to death after being convicted in the case related to the murder of Singh in a blast at the entrance of the civil secretariat at Chandigarh on August 31, 1995 in which 16 others were also killed.

His plea came up for hearing on September 25 before a bench headed by Justice B R Gavai.

“Issue notice, returnable on November 4,” said the bench also comprising Justices P K Mishra and K V Viswanathan.

In his plea, Rajoana has said that in March 2012, a mercy petition under Article 72 of the Constitution was preferred by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee seeking clemency on his behalf.

The plea said over an year has elapsed since the top court had directed the competent authority, in due course of time, to deal with the mercy petition filed on his behalf and take further decision thereon.

The plea referred to an April last year order of the top court in a separate matter in which the court had directed all the states and appropriate authorities to decide the pending mercy petitions at the earliest and without any inordinate delay.

“Despite the above directions, the mercy petition of the petitioner herein has been kept pending,” it said.

“It is submitted that this extraordinary and inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition, for reasons beyond the petitioner’s control and not attributable to him, is an infringement of his right to life guaranteed under Article 21,” the plea said.

It said the issue of keeping mercy petitions pending for long and the incarceration of the convict has come up for consideration before the apex court in numerous cases.

The plea said in one of the cases, the top court had directed to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment taking into consideration the delay of over five years in disposal of mercy petition.

“It is respectfully submitted that an inordinate delay in decision of a death row convict’s mercy petition (as in the present case) has consistently been recognised by this court as a valid enough ground for commutation of his death sentence,” it said.

The plea said, “The petitioner, a death row convict, has been awaiting a decision on his mercy petition for an inordinately prolonged period, being subjected to unimaginable mental agony on account of uncertainty over the fate of his life for an inordinate and unreasonably prolonged period, which is an assault on his right to life recognised under Article 21”.

Rajoana, a former Punjab police constable, was convicted for his involvement in an explosion outside the Punjab civil secretariat that killed Beant Singh and 16 others on August 31, 1995.

A special court had sentenced him to death in July 2007.