‘Not conducive’: Centre opposes Balwant Rajoana’s death commutation plea in Supreme Court

The Centre has opposed the plea seeking commutation of the death sentence awarded to Balwant Singh Rajoana, a Babbar Khalsa operative convicted in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.A special court sentenced Balwant Singh Rajoana to death in July 2007, a decision upheld by the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2010. (HT FILE PHOTO)Rajoana, who has been on death row for 19 years, approached the Supreme Court challenging the delay in deciding the plea for mercy pending with the President of India since 2012.Appearing before a bench headed by justice Vikram Nath, additional solicitor general (ASG) KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, said, “We have objection to what they are demanding. Considering the prevailing situation in the state (Punjab), it will not be conducive to take any decision.”In view of the Centre’s assertion, the bench said it would hear the case on merits.“Now that they insist on commuting their death sentence to life, which you oppose, we will hear the matter on merits,” the bench, also comprising justices Sandeep Mehta and Aparesh Kumar Singh, said.The top court posted the matter on October 28 after ASG Nataraj sought time to prepare the case. Rajoana’s lawyer, Diksha Rai, has sought to rely on past Supreme Court decisions on this issue.Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was convicted for his involvement in a suicide bombing outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. The blast killed Beant Singh and 16 others, and Rajoana was identified as the backup bomber.A special court sentenced him to death in July 2007, a decision upheld by the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2010. Rajoana was scheduled for execution on March 31, 2012, but the sentence was stayed following a mercy plea filed by SGPC. Since then, the plea has remained pending, with successive governments citing national security concerns for the delay.In 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) proposed commuting Rajoana’s sentence as a gesture marking the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. However, the ministry never formalised the proposal, and Rajoana moved the Supreme Court in 2020 to challenge the delay.The Union government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) opposed his release, citing national security concerns and the potential for unrest in Punjab. On May 3, 2024, the top court disposed of the plea, noting that MHA’s decision to defer the decision on Rajoana’s mercy petition on the ground of national security and the law and order situation “actually amounts to a decision declining to grant the same for the present”.The fresh petition pending before the top court was filed in 2024, arguing that he was entitled to remission because no decision had been taken on the mercy plea for years and that this violated his right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.