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SC grants Centre till Mar 18 to decide on Rajoana’s mercy plea

ByAbraham Thomas, New Delhi
Jan 21, 2025 03:48 AM IST

Rajoana has been in prison for 29 years, of which 15 years have been spent on death row following his conviction in 2007.

The Supreme Court on Monday gave a “last chance” to the Centre to decide by March 18 on the long-pending mercy plea of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.

Rajoana has been in prison for 29 years, of which 15 years have been spent on death row following his conviction in 2007. (HT PHOTO)
Rajoana has been in prison for 29 years, of which 15 years have been spent on death row following his conviction in 2007. (HT PHOTO)

If no decision is taken by the next date, the court said it will decide the case on merit.

Rajoana has been in prison for 29 years, of which 15 years have been spent on death row following his conviction in 2007. He has claimed that the Union home ministry took a decision to commute his death sentence to life in 2019, but the Centre has maintained that the issue is “sensitive” and requires extensive consultation with several agencies.

A bench headed by justice Bhushan R Gavai, which granted four weeks to the Centre on November 25 last year, on Monday said: “We will grant you time by way of last chance. Either you take a decision or we will hear the matter on merits.”

Posting the matter on March 18, the bench, also comprising justices PK Mishra and KV Viswanathan added: “We will hear on merits on March 18. By then, if you can decide, well and good. It will facilitate us.”

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, said that the court should consider releasing the petitioner from jail and allow him to reintegrate into society as the Centre does not seem to be keen to decide on the mercy petition.

But the court reminded Rohatgi, “In many matters, we have confirmed life sentence till death. We will grant them some time.”

Rajoana’s lawyer also sought a medical report for the long period he has remained on death row. “Let there be a medical report on his state of mind as he has been on death row,” Rohatgi requested the court, pointing to the case of another death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, convicted in the 1993 Delhi bomb blasts, whose capital punishment was commuted to life imprisonment by the top court due to the delay in deciding his mercy petition.

However, the Union government, represented by additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, opposed this contention on the grounds that no medical report can be furnished to ascertain mental capacity in such a case.

Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was sentenced to death in 2007 for his role as a backup bomber in the suicide attack outside the Punjab civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. The bombing killed Beant Singh and 16 others. The Punjab & Haryana High Court upheld the death sentence in 2010.

In 2012, Rajoana was scheduled for execution, but it was stayed after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) filed a mercy plea on his behalf. Over the years, successive governments have cited national security concerns and the delicate political environment in Punjab as reasons for the delay in deciding the plea.

Mercy petitions are filed under Article 72 to the President and under Article 161 to the Governor and comes as a last hope for death row convicts whose conviction and sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court. When the President receives a petition for granting pardon or commuting of sentence, the same is sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which makes a recommendation after obtaining comments from the state government.

The President, after going through the material and reports about the convict, conveys its decision to the Centre, which communicates to the home department of the state government and the prison authorities where the said prisoner is lodged. While there is no timeline for the President to act on mercy petition, the newly enacted Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) under Section 473 provides for timelines – Centre to make recommendation to President in 60 days and 48 hours for Centre to communicate President’s decision to the state/prison to be conveyed to the convict.

Rajoana has not challenged his conviction either before the high court or Supreme Court. However, in a petition before the top court in 2020, the convict referred to a communication issued by the Union home ministry in September 2019, wherein the Centre, in consultation with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Intelligence Bureau, decided to commute his death sentence to life term to mark the then 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has advocated for Rajoana’s release and has criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab for not expressing a clear intention before the top court to demand his release. The party leader Sukhbir Singh Badal has been quoted in the past as saying, “clemency to Rajoana will bring a closure to a turbulent phase in the history of Punjab.” On the other hand, the BJP-led government at the Centre has maintained a hard stand terming the charge of killing a former CM as serious and undeserving of clemency.

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