Sreya Kanugula
The SC on January 8, 2021, asked the Central government to make their decision regarding the death penalty commutation of one of the persons convicted for the assassination of Beant Singh, the former Chief Minister of Punjab.
A plea seeking that the death penalty sentence offered to Balwant S Rajoana be commuted was heard by the bench and this was the reason behind the Supreme Court’s question to the government.
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde stated that the Centre should take their decision before January 26, which they called “a good date.”
In December 2020, the Centre was questioned by the court upon the delay on Rajoana’s death penalty proposal being sent to the President as directed.
Article 72 of the Indian Constitution gives the President pardoning powers when it comes to the suspension or remission or commutation of sentences in some cases.
Balwant S Rajoana is a former constable of the Punjab Police department, who was convicted for taking part in the bombing outside the civil secretariat of Punjab. This explosion was the cause of the death of Mr. Beant Singh along with 16 other civilian deaths in the year 1995.
After being arrested by Punjab’s police department in December 1995, Rajoana was given the death penalty by a special Chandigarh CBI court on the 27th of July in 2007.
The same court awarded the same penalty to Jagtar Singh Hawara and the life imprisonment sentence to Shamsher Singh, Gurmit Singh as well as Lakhwinder Singh. They were all culpable in the assassination plot and involved in the case.
Rajoana was going to be given the death penalty on March 31st in 2012, but, he wasn’t, due to the submission of a mercy petition made by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to the President. The Centre sought a stay on his execution because of this petition.
After Rajoana demanded a decision be made on the petition filed by hunger striking in 2016 as well as 2018 in the Patiala Central Jail, he only broke a 5-day strike after the sitting president of the SGPC, Gobind Singh Longowal reassured him that it would be taken up as swiftly as possible.