E-Paper
SGPC seeks time to meet Rajoana in Patiala jail
The SGPC request comes 10 days after the Supreme Court, during a hearing, had observed that the Centre alone was responsible for the delay in taking a decision on the mercy petition of Rajoana, a Babbar Khalsa sympathiser on death row for the 1995 assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) secretary has written to the additional director general of police (jails) seeking an appointment to meet death-row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana.
The SGPC request comes 10 days after the Supreme Court, during a hearing, had observed that the Centre alone was responsible for the delay in taking a decision on the mercy petition of Rajoana, a Babbar Khalsa sympathiser on death row for the 1995 assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. The court reminded the government that it was for the executive, not the court, to take a call on his execution.
According to SGPC, a delegation led by gurdwara body president Harjinder Singh Dhami is slated to meet Rajoana at Patiala Jail.
In a statement issued by the SGPC office, secretary Partap Singh said that, as per the directions of SGPC president, a formal letter has been sent to the ADGP (Jails) seeking time to meet Rajoana at the earliest.
“Rajoana has been imprisoned for nearly three decades, and Sikh institutions have continuously been making efforts for the commutation of his death sentence. The delegation that will meet Rajoana will include executive committee member Surjit Singh Garhi, member Gurcharan Singh Grewal, and advocate Bhagwant Singh Sialka,” the SGPC statement said.
Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was sentenced to death in July 2007 for his role in the 1995 car bomb attack outside the Punjab civil secretariat that killed Beant Singh and 16 others. After the high court confirmed the punishment, his execution was scheduled for March 31, 2012, but was stayed three days earlier by the then UPA government following a mercy petition filed by the SGPC.
Since then, Rajoana has repeatedly moved the Supreme Court, arguing that prolonged uncertainty over his fate amounts to cruel and inhuman punishment.
