The hearing in the Supreme Court on the petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted of the murder of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, has been postponed for 2 weeks. Rajoana has reached the Supreme Court to get his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. The central government has said that it will file a reply on the petition.
Let us tell you that in 2007, Rajoana had received death sentence from the lower court. He says that he has been in jail for almost 29 years. His mercy petition is also pending for 12 years. Till now the Central Government has not taken any decision on it. On behalf of the Centre, the Solicitor General said that the matter is pending with the President. He will inform the court about its status.
Aadhaar value appeal for delay in mercy petition
In May last year, the Supreme Court had refused to convert Rajoana's death sentence to life imprisonment. The court had asked the Union Home Ministry to take an early decision on Rajoana's mercy petition. Now once again he has demanded to convert his death sentence into life imprisonment on the basis of delay in disposal of his mercy petition.
Beant Singh was murdered on 31 August 1995.
Former Punjab Police constable Balwant Rajoana was associated with the terrorist organization Babbar Khalsa. Former Chief Minister of Punjab Beant Singh was assassinated on 31 August 1995. Rajoana was the main accused in this murder. Rajoana was sentenced to death by a special CBI court in Chandigarh on August 1, 2007. Apart from other terrorists, mainly Balwant and Dilawar Singh were involved. Dilawar had killed 17 people including Beant Singh by detonating a suicide bomb.
In 2007, the lower court had given death sentence
Rajoana, who was present at the spot as Dilawar's backup, had absconded. Balwant was caught on 22 December 1995. In 2007, he was given death sentence by the lower court. In 2010, the High Court also upheld this sentence. Balwant himself did not file a mercy petition, but before his execution in 2012, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) sent a mercy petition to the President. Then his execution was stayed, but the decision on the mercy petition has not been taken yet.
Announcement was made in 2019, but formal order was not issued
In 2019, on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the Union Home Ministry announced to convert the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana to life imprisonment, but till now no formal order has been issued on this. Taking this as the basis, last year the terrorist had sought relief from the Supreme Court. During the hearing of that case, the Central Government had described it as a very sensitive matter from the point of view of law and order of Punjab. The government had requested that the court not give any order on this.
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