Supreme Court denies interim relief to Beant Singh assassination convict Balwant Singh Rajoana

The writ petition sought commutation of his death sentence on the grounds of “extraordinary” and “inordinate delay” in deciding his mercy petition by the President.

Appearing for Rajoana, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted that he “has been in custody without break for 29 years till today.” The senior counsel said the delay in deciding the mercy plea was shocking.

To a specific query, the counsel for the Punjab government told the bench also comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Viswanathan that it had not been able to file a reply to the petition on which the court had issued notice to it on September 27.

Seeking interim relief, Rohatgi said, “After 29 years, out of which 15 years he has been on death row, they have not disposed of my mercy plea when others have been commuted to life imprisonment in this case by the Supreme Court.” He pointed out that Rajoana’s earlier petition seeking commutation of death sentence was disposed of in May 2023 by the Supreme Court, which said that “they (authorities) will take action on the mercy plea in due course.”

Rohatgi said a year and a half had gone by “after that without any decision in sight”.

The senior counsel urged the court to release him “for six months or three months” and said “he is a finished person. At least, let him see what is outside…You cannot have complete violation of his Article 21.”

However, the bench said that it would have to hear the matter.

Convicted for the August 31, 1995, assassination of Singh and 12 others, pro-Khalistan militant Rajoana was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special CBI court.

A mercy petition was filed on his behalf by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in March 2012. In September 2019, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) wrote to Punjab proposing commutation of his death sentence into life imprisonment to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, but the proposal was never implemented.

In September 2020, Rajoana moved the Supreme Court stating that his mercy petition pending for 10 years be taken up immediately for disposal and MHA’s 2019 proposal be implemented. Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, hails from the Rajoana Kalan village of Ludhiana.

Hearing his plea, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to decide on it. The central government then filed an affidavit stating that it “has decided to defer taking any decision on the mercy plea…as it has a serious potential of compromising the security of the nation or creating a law and order situation”.

On May 3, 2023, the Supreme Court rejected the plea and left it to the Centre to decide on Rajoana’s mercy plea at an appropriate time. He then filed a fresh plea.