New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked the Centre why Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was convicted in the murder case of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and is facing the death penalty, has not been hanged till now. Rajoana was convicted in the murder of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995.
Rajoana has been under house arrest in jail for the last 29 years. Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj briefed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria about the case.
The bench asked the Additional Solicitor General, “Why have you not hanged him till now? Who is responsible for this? At least, we have not stayed the hanging.” The apex court is hearing a plea seeking commutation of Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, said that no decision has been taken on his client's mercy petition. Rohatgi said that the Supreme Court had earlier said that the mercy petition should be decided in a timely manner.
He said that the top court has said that Rajoana himself had not filed the mercy petition, but it was filed by the Gurdwara Committee. The bench adjourned the hearing of the case till October 15 and said that the matter would not be adjourned on the Centre's request.
Earlier, the top court had asked the Centre on January 20 to take a decision on Rajoana's mercy petition. The Centre had then said that the mercy petition was being considered, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
On September 25 last year, the top court had sought responses from the Centre, the Punjab government and the administration of the Union Territory of Chandigarh on Rajoana's petition.
It is worth mentioning that the former Chief Minister of Punjab was assassinated in a bomb blast at the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. A special court had sentenced Rajoana to death in July 2007.
On May 3, 2023, the top court refused to commute his death sentence, saying that the competent authority can deal with his mercy petition. In his latest petition, Rajoana mentioned that he has been in jail for about 29 years, out of which he spent more than 15 years as a death row convict.
He said that in March 2012, a mercy petition was filed on his behalf by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee under Article 72 of the Constitution.