Former Punjab CM Beant Singh Assassination Case: SC Adjourns Convicted Balwant Singh's Plea To Commute Death Sentence

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday deferred the plea filed by Balwant Singh Rajoana, 57, Babbar Khalsa terrorist and a death row convict, to November 18. A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and K.V. Viswanathan stated that they would only consider relief after having heard the matter, LiveLaw reported.

Balwant Singh Rajoana is convicted in former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassination case. Rajoana’s plea seeks commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment, citing the inordinate delay in the government deciding his mercy plea.

Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable who has been in jail for 28 years awaiting execution, said in his plea that the Centre has not decided on his March 25, 2012 mercy petition to date. Rajoana’s plea submitted that he has been in jail for more than 28 years and on death row for 17 years. Senior lawyer and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, had argued that he could not be made to wait indefinitely citing national security. “Keeping the petitioner on death row while sitting over his mercy plea for such a long time violates his fundamental rights,” Rohatgi argued.

Before Rohatgi could complete, Justice Gavai asked the Punjab Counsel if a reply had been filed against the notice issued. The Counsel replied that they could not file a report because of the vacation.

Earlier, Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj, appearing for the Ministry of Home Affairs, had contended that the mercy petition cannot be considered as it was filed by the Siromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee and not by Rajoana himself. He said it cannot be decided until the appeals of other convicts were decided by the top court.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation Court had convicted Rajoana on July 27, 2007 under Sections 120-B, 302, 307 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 3(b), 4(b) and 5(b) r/w 6 of the Explosives Substances Act, 1908 for an incident involving a deadly suicide bombing at the Chandigarh secretariat complex on August 31, 1995, wherein the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh along with 16 others, lost their lives. Along with Rajoana, co-accused Jagtar Singh Hawara, who was reportedly the mastermind behind the operation, was also sentenced to death. At the same time, co-accused Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh, and Lakhwinder Singh were awarded life imprisonment. The verdict was delivered inside the high-security Burail jail in Chandigarh. In total, 15 were convicted.

The assailant was Dilawar Singh, a police officer. Rajoana, a police constable, was not only responsible for ensuring that Singh reached the chief minister after crossing the security ring in the complex but was also equipped with a backup explosive device in case the first plan failed. Separatist group Babbar Khalsa International, whose primary goal is to establish a sovereign homeland called Khalistan for people of their faith, took responsibility for the assassination.

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