Balwant Singh Rajoana has been in jail for the last 29 years in the murder case of former Chief Minister Punjab Beant Singh.
Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted of killing former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, is to be heard again in the Supreme Court today. Rajoana has appealed to forgive his death sentence on the basis of “extraordinary” and “unfair delays”.
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The petition argued that the Government of India has spent a lot of time to decide his mercy petition. He has been in jail for almost 29 years. In the last hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi in the Supreme Court argued that the case of Rajoana’s death sentence is the then Chief Justice S.A. Bobde is pending with tenure.
He said that Rajoana has been facing death sentence for 15 years and has been in jail for the last 29 years. He argued that he should now be released.
On which Justice BR hearing the case Gawai had said- either you decide, otherwise we will hear the merit of this case. But not every matter is the same. There is also an alternative to the punishment of imprisonment.
Know what happened before
Justice BR The bench of Gawai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Vishwanathan heard the matter. On 18 November, the court requested that a decision be taken on the mercy petition pending with the President within two weeks. The court also said that if mercy petition is not considered within the stipulated time, it would consider the petition to provide interim relief.
However, after passing the order in the open court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta immediately appealed. He said that the issue included “sensitivity” and requested that the order be signed and uploaded. The court accepted the request and refrained from finalizing and uploading the order.
This argument was kept in court
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi (for Rajoana) described the delay in deciding the mercy petition as “shocking”. He said that this person has been in custody continuously for 29 years till date. Originally he was convicted for the crime of the bomb blast in 1996.
Before the completion of Rohatgi, Justice Gawai asked the Punjab lawyer whether any reply had been filed against the notice issued. The lawyer replied that they could not file a report due to the holiday. To this, Gawai said that the court is ready to give 2 weeks to the Punjab state to file a reply.
Argument given to release in 6 months
After this, Rohatgi pressured for interim relief. He said that 29 years have been in jail for passage. His mercy petition is not disposed of, while the Supreme Court has converted others into life imprisonment in this case.
His petition was disposed of by the bench in May 2023, saying that he (concerned officer) would take action on mercy petition in the intention time. One and a half years have passed. A man who is now in jail 29 years, should be released for 6 months or 3 months.
He is an ended person. At least, let him see what is outside …. You cannot violate his Article 21. On this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta strongly opposed any interim relief to Rajoana.
The petition has also demanded his release on the basis that he has so far served a total sentence of 28 years and 08 months, out of which 17 years he has deducted the death penalty of 8 “X 10” as a conviction of death penalty, of which 2.5 years have been served in seclusion imprisonment.
Rajoana accused of Beant Singh murder
Former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh was murdered on 31 August 1995. According to Balwant Singh Rajoana’s statement, he and Punjab Police Mulajim Dilawar Singh blew Beant Singh with a human bomb. Dilawar Singh attacked Beant Singh as a human bomb. The conspiracy was hatched in such a way that if Dilawar had failed, the attack was to be done by Rajoana. The court sentenced Rajoana to death.