Beant Singh assassination case: ‘Why has he not been hanged till now,’ asks SC on Rajoana’s mercy plea after Centre says ‘serious offence’

Agreeing to Nataraj’s request for time to take instructions, the bench presided by Justice Vikram Nath and also comprising Justice N V Anjaria fixed it for hearing next on October 15, and clarified that it will not be adjourned at the instance of the respondents.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the convict said Rajoana has been in jail for over 29 years, of which 15 years have been on death row.

Rohatgi pointed out that on January 20, 2024, the SC had given the Centre one last opportunity to decide his mercy petition failing which the court would decide it.

Nataraj sought more time to seek instructions.

Opposing this, Rohatgi said, “There can’t be a premium on going on delaying. He is also a human being, an Indian citizen. He is entitled to equal application of the laws. Every time they say we will decide, we will decide, sometimes they say, not the appropriate time to decide.”

To a query from the bench about the crime, Nataraj said “a sitting chief minister was murdered…and there were consequential riots in the entire state. It is a serious offence”.

“Then you should have executed him. That is the law,” said Rohatgi.

Rajoana, a Babbar Khalsa terrorist, convicted for the assassination of Beant Singh and 12 others on August 31, 1995, was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special CBI court. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee filed a mercy petition on his behalf in March 2012. In September 2019, the Home ministry wrote to Punjab proposing the commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, but the proposal was never implemented.

In September 2020, Rajoana moved the Supreme Court requesting that his long-pending mercy petition be taken up for immediate disposal and that the Home ministry’s 2019 proposal be implemented.

The court then directed the Centre to make a decision. The Government subsequently 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 Rajoana’s plea and left it to the Centre to decide on the mercy plea at an appropriate time. He then filed a fresh plea.