New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked why Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, has not been executed despite being on death row for 15 years, after the Centre described his crime as a “serious offence.”
Rajoana has spent nearly 29 years in jail, including over 15 years as a death row convict. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N V Anjaria posed the sharp question to Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, who reiterated the gravity of the crime.
“Why did you not hang him till now? Who is to blame for that? At least, we have not stayed the execution,” the bench asked.
The court is hearing Rajoana’s plea seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on the grounds of inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for him, said the government had taken no decision on the plea filed in 2012 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
“One does not know what is going on,” Rohatgi argued, stressing that the apex court had earlier directed that mercy petitions must be decided in time. He also questioned Rajoana’s condition in prison, saying, “We don’t know whether he is in solitary confinement or in a sane state of mind.”
“If the death sentence has to go, commutation must happen. If commutation happens, he can come out,” Rohatgi submitted, underlining that Rajoana is an Indian citizen and the case “is not an India-Pakistan issue.”
The bench fixed October 15 for the next hearing, clarifying that the matter would not be adjourned at the Centre’s request. Nataraj assured he would seek instructions and update the court.
On January 20 this year, the apex court had asked the Centre to decide on the mercy plea, with the government citing the “sensitivity” of the matter. The court had earlier, in May 2023, refused to commute Rajoana’s sentence, saying the competent authority could take a call.
Beant Singh and 16 others were killed in a blast at the entrance of the Chandigarh civil secretariat on August 31, 1995. Rajoana was sentenced to death by a special court in July 2007.
In his fresh plea, Rajoana highlighted that he has already served nearly 29 years in jail, with more than half of that time as a death row prisoner, and sought directions for his release.
