SC grants Centre four weeks to decide on Rajoana mercy plea

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Union government four weeks to decide on the long-pending mercy plea of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, even as the Centre flagged the “sensitivity” of the issue and said the situation was not conducive to resolving the matter at present.

A bench comprising justices Bhushan R Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan deferred the hearing on Rajoana’s plea following submissions by solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Union government.

“The matter is sensitive. Several agencies need to be consulted. We need some more time,” Mehta told the bench. Additional solicitor general KM Nataraj, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), echoed the concern, saying, “The situation is still not conducive for a decision.”

The court acceded to the Centre’s plea, deferring the case for four weeks.

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 and Haryana high court upheld his 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.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) in 2019 proposed commuting Rajoana’s sentence as a goodwill gesture marking the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. However, the proposal was never formalised. In 2020, Rajoana approached the Supreme Court, challenging the prolonged delay in processing his mercy plea.

In previous hearings, the Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction over the inordinate delay in resolving Rajoana’s mercy plea. During a hearing on November 18, the bench underscored the need for the plea to move forward. It had even considered directing the secretary to the President to expedite the decision within two weeks but deferred the move after the Centre sought more time. “The central government should act on it. Why not do it? It also requires the aid and advice of the Centre,” the court noted on the last date.

It had warned that it might reinstate its earlier directive for the President to decide on the plea if there was no progress by November 25. However, following the Centre’s latest submission, the matter has now been deferred until December.

The issue of Rajoana’s release carries significant political and national security implications. He was linked to the Babbar Khalsa, a militant Sikh separatist group responsible for violent activities during the insurgency in Punjab. His release is a sensitive issue for both the families of terrorism victims and the political dynamics in Punjab, raising concerns about the resurgence of a pro-Khalistan sentiment.

Rajoana’s previous petition assailing the delay by the Centre in deciding his commutation plea was decided by the Supreme Court in May 2023. The court noted that the MHA’s decision to defer the decision on Rajoana’s mercy petition on grounds of national security and law and order “actually amounts to a decision declining to grant the same for the present”. It rather allowed the Centre to consider his mercy plea “in due course”.

A year on, Rajoana’s filed the current petition through advocate Diksha Rai, maintaining that he is “neither a member of any anti-nationalist organisation and nor has he ever subscribed to their views”, and therefore, the commutation of his sentence cannot be stalled by citing grounds of national security or public order. It added that the inordinate delay in the execution of a death row convict’s sentence and a final decision on his mercy petition has consistently been recognised by the apex court to invoke its powers under Article 32 to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.

“Keeping him in suspense, while consideration of his mercy petition by the Hon’ble President of India remains pending for years on end is an agony, which has created adverse physical conditions and psychological stresses on the petitioner, who has now been in jail for the past 28 years and 7 months, confined to a capital punishment cell of 8’ x 10’ for the last 17 years,” the petition said.