SC Declines To Commute Death Penalty Of Beant Singh Assassination Convict, Asks Govt To Take A Call

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the mercy petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a death row convict in the 1995 Beant Singh murder case.

Rajoana has been in jail for the past 26 years for his involvement in the murder of Singh, who was the then Punjab Chief Minister.

BCCL

In jail for 26 years

The former Punjab Police constable was on death row since 2007 and had sought the commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds of his long incarceration.

However, on Wednesday, the SC declined to commute the death penalty to life imprisonment and said that the competent authority may deal with Rajoana's mercy plea.

"What we have decided is that the stand of the Ministry of Home Affairs to defer the decision on the mercy petition of the petitioner is also our decision for the reasons given hereunder...

MHA should take the call: SC

"This actually amounts to declining grant the same (remission) for the present. Therefore, we have directed that the competent authority will again, as and when they deem necessary will, deal with the mercy petition and take a further decision. The writ petition (of Rajoana) is disposed of accordingly," a bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said.

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Govt delaying its decision

Earlier, the apex court had questioned the Central government for not taking any decision so far on the mercy petition of Rajoana.

Last year, the apex court had directed the Centre to decide within two months mercy petition of Rajoana seeking to commute to life imprisonment the death sentence on the ground of his long incarceration of 26 years.

The top court had said it can't tell the Centre what decision has to be taken, but the government certainly should take a decision in the matter.

BCCL/FILE

Rajoana's counsel, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi had argued that keeping him on death row while sitting over his mercy plea for such a long period violated his fundamental right.

His plea for mercy has been pending before the government for over a decade.

Rohatgi had said Rajoana has been in jail since January 1996, and his mercy petition was filed in March 2012.

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Assassination of Beant Singh

Beant Singh, the 12th Chief Minister of Punjab, was killed along with sixteen others in a suicide bomb blast outside the Punjab civil secretariat on August 31, 1995.

The attack was carried out by the Khalistani terror outfit Babbar Khalsa and Rajoana was a backup suicide bomber.

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