From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to spell out its stand in a day on the mercy plea of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana (55) in the case of assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and 16 others in 1995 in a bomb blast in the state secretariat in Chandigarh.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit agreed to hear it on Friday as the first case as requested by Additional Solicitor General K M Natraj.
“We can’t force you to take what decision…but you have to take a decision,” said the Bench noting that it had earlier asked the Centre on May 2 to decide in two months but the time expired long back,” the Bench said noting the ASG’s statement that no decision has been taken by the authorities. The court had told the Centre to decide on Rajoana’s mercy petition without being influenced by the pending appeals of other convicts.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the convict, who was 28 at the time of the assassination, has been in jail for 26 years and on death row since 2007.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had said the mercy petition can’t be considered as it was filed by another organisation and not Rajoana himself and that it can’t be decided until the appeals of other convicts was decided by the top court. Interestingly, Rajoana has not challenged his conviction or sentence.
Earlier, Natraj had contested the petitioner’s contention that in 2019 a final decision was taken to commute his death penalty.
The Bench had earlier pointed out that the convict has filed a petition under Article 32 which can be taken as an endorsement of the mercy petition.
Citing Devender Pal Singh Bhullar’s case, the petitioner has claimed that the “Delay caused by circumstances beyond the prisoners’ control mandates commutation of death sentence.” The inordinate delay caused agony and adversely affected his physical and mental health, he contended.
Maintaining that pendency of appeals by co-accused has no bearing on Presidential pardon granted to a death-row convict, the Supreme Court had earlier questioned the Centre over delay in sending proposal to the President for commuting Rajoana’s death penalty.
