As Supreme Court takes up Rajoana plea today, his sister demands closure: ‘even life term is for 14 years’

Arrested on December 22, 1995 after Beant Singh’s assassination on August 31, 1995 in a suicide bomb attack at Chandigarh in which 12 others were also killed, it has now been nearly 27 years that Rajoana has been in jail, with the union government failing to communicate any decision on his death sentence despite at least seven orders of the Supreme Court.

In these 27 years, Rajoana has been out on parole only once, for an hour, to attend his adoptive father Jaswant Singh’s death ritual, on January 31 this year.

Convicted in July 2007 by a local court in Chandigarh, his hanging was scheduled on March 31, 2012. However, it was stayed after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) filed a mercy petition with the President of India on March 25 follwing which Union Home Ministry ordered a stay on his execution.

Key accused in ex-CM Beant Singh murder case, Balwant Singh Rajoana. (Express Photo by Harmeet Sodhi/File)

The mercy petition remains pending since then. For Rajoana, who hails from Rajoana Kalan village of Ludhiana, his only constant support has been Kamaldeep, his adoptive sister who hopes that one day he will be out of jail.

A glimmer of hope arose when on September 27, 2019, the Union Home Ministry in a letter to Punjab (copy with The Indian Express), wrote that to commemorate Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary, it was decided to give special remission to Sikh prisoners. The Centre proposed to commute Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment under the Article 72 of the Constitution, but three years on, the Centre has failed to implement the proposal.

In December 2019, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, however, informed the Lok Sabha that no pardon had been granted to Rajoana. He was replying to the query of Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of Beant Singh.

In September 2020, Rajoana moved the Supreme Court urging that the decision on his death row and the proposed commutation to life imprisonment be taken at the earliest. Since then, the Supreme Court has passed at least seven orders asking the Centre to either implement its 2019 proposal or take a call on death penalty, but no such decision has been communicated yet to the Court by the union government. The next date of hearing is October 11.

Kamaldeep now demands a closure. “Isn’t this an injustice to take so long to decide if a person will be allowed to live or not. There has to be a closure. Even the life imprisonment is for 14 years, but my brother has been in jail for more than 26 years. He too has the right to return to his family and start a new life,” says Kamaldeep.

“The highest court of the country has been asking the Centre to take a decision immediately but no one’s listening… My brother has been a prisoner with good conduct but has remained lodged in the phaansi chakki (capital punishment cell) in jails. He never appealed for any mercy. It was SGPC who appealed for him seeing Sikh community’s sentiments. Each day, he just waits for the decision.. for the closure,” says Kamaldeep, whose two siblings — Harpinder Singh Goldy and Amandeep Kaur — were allegedly abducted and killed by the police.

Rajoana was adopted by Jaswant Singh in 1993 after former’s father Malkeet Singh died. At Jaswant Singh’s bhog ceremony, Rajoana had praised Kamaldeep for always standing by him “like a pillar.”

He had earlier justified Beant Singh’s assassination, blaming the former CM for “extra-judicial” killings of Sikh youth and “circumstances created due to Operation Bluestar and 1984 riots.” Rajoana had allegedly tied the bombs on Dilawar Singh’s body, who blew himself up, killing Beant and 12 others.

Earlier lodged at Burail Jail Chandigarh, Rajoana was shifted to Central Jail Patiala in 2010. He is now being represented in the Supreme Court by senior advocate and former advocate general of India Mukul Rohtagi.

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In the Supreme Court, so far

September 1, 2020: Rajoana files write petition in Supreme Court alleging inaction on MHA’s letter to Punjab, dated September 27, 2019 proposing commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment and seeking that the mercy petition filed on March 25, 2012 (by the SGPC before the President of India) be taken up for disposal immediately.

December 4, 2020: Replying to SC query on the implementation status of MHA’s letter to Punjab, Centre replies that proposal was not taken ahead “in view of pending appeals of co-accused in this court.” However, the court said that “appeals pending at the behest of other co-accused would have no relevance to the proposal” (of commutation of death penalty). Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for Centre, sought time “to make a statement about the proposal”.

January 25, 2021: SC orders Centre to “take a decision as early as possible” and sets a deadline of two months.

February 12, 2021: On request of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, “matter adjourned.”

March 24, 2022: SC sets new deadline saying that the “matter shall immediately be looked into by…Government of India, and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The proposal or the objection to the prayer for commutation shall be made by the CBI within two weeks… (and) placed on record on or before 30.04.2022”.

May 2, 2022: The deadline expires, but Centre fails to file a reply. The court again sets a two-month deadline.

July 28, 2022: The matter is adjourned to September 13, 2022.

September 28, 2022: Referring to its May 2 order granting two months to the Centre, SC observes that “the decision has not yet been taken by the concerned authorities”; adjourns the matter for September 30 and orders Centre to file an affidavit by September 29 “…indicating the progress in the matter”

September 29, 2022: The Centre fails to file the affidavit.

October 11: the next date of hearing

Timeline of the case

August 31, 1995: Former Punjab CM and Congress leader Beant Singh is assassinated; 12 others killed in a suicide bomb attack at Chandigarh

December 22, 1995: Balwant Singh Rajoana arrested

July 31, 2007: Special CBI court in Chandigarh awards death sentence to Rajoana

October, 2010: Punjab and Haryana High Court uphold the death sentence

March 31, 2012: Scheduled hanging deferred after SGPC files mercy petition before the President on March 25, 2012 (pending till date)

September 27, 2019: Centre writes to Punjab proposing commutation of death row into life imprisonment for Rajoana on Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary (but the proposal not taken ahead)

December 3, 2019: Union Home Minister Amit Shah informs Lok Sabha that “no pardon has been granted to Rajoana”

September 1, 2020: Rajoana files writ petition in Supreme Court alleging inaction by Centre on 2019 proposal and seeking disposal of his 2012 mercy plea

January 31, 2022: On orders of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Rajoana comes out on parole for an hour to attend his adoptive father’s bhog ceremony in Ludhiana