Supreme Court of India directed Centre to file reply on plea by Balwant Singh Rajoana seeking commutation. Bench of Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi questioned delay.
The Supreme Court directed the Centre to file its affidavit within two weeks on a plea moved by Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was convicted in the 1995 assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. Rajoana is seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment, alleging that there has been an inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition.
Rajoana has been in prison for over 29 years, including more than 15 years on death row.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi asked the counsel for the Centr:
“Why have you not filed your counter affidavit so far?”
The counsel said the Centre intended to place certain documents before the Court in a sealed cover.
“You file your counter affidavit otherwise his allegations are uncontroverted,” the bench said, adding, “You place your affidavit whatever you want to say”.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, submitted that the mercy petition filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee on behalf of the petitioner in March 2012 is still pending.
He noted that in 2023, the apex court had directed that the authorities should take a decision on the mercy petition.
Rohatgi also referred to the apex court’s order dated September 24 last year, which stated that any further request for adjournment in the matter at the instance of the respondents would not be accepted.
The bench granted two weeks to file the Centre’s affidavit and made it clear that no further time would be provided.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to take a decision on Rajoana’s mercy petition. At that time, the Centre had cited the sensitivity of the case and said that the mercy petition was under consideration.
In September 2024, the Court sought responses from the Centre, the Punjab government, and the administration of the Union Territory of Chandigarh regarding Rajoana’s plea.
Factual Backgrounds:
The 1995 blast occurred on August 31, 1995, at the entrance of the civil secretariat in Chandigarh, in which former Punjab Chief Minister Singh and 16 others were killed. A special court awarded Rajoana the death sentence in July 2007.
Rajoana’s petition sought a direction for his release. On May 3, 2023, the Supreme Court refused to commute his death sentence and observed that the competent authority should consider his mercy plea.
In a fresh application filed in 2024, Rajoana stated that he has spent 28.8 years in jail, including over 15 years as a death row convict. He said that in March 2012 the SGPC submitted a mercy petition under Article 72 seeking clemency on his behalf.
The plea further said that more than a year has passed since the top court directed that the competent authority should deal with his mercy petition in due course of time and take a subsequent decision.
It also referred to an April 2023 order of the Supreme Court in a separate matter, in which the Court directed all states and concerned authorities to decide pending mercy petitions at the earliest and without any unnecessary delay.
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