The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the Central Government for not taking any decision so far on the mercy petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was awarded the death sentence for the assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995.
A bench of Justices Chief Justice UU Lalit, Justices S Ravindra Bhat, and PS Narasimha was irked over the Center’s failure to take a clear stand on the mercy petition despite being given time by the court to do so, and now seeks adjournment in the case. Earlier in May, the apex court had directed the Center to decide within two months on the mercy petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, seeking to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of his long incarceration of 26 years.
During the hearing, the bench took exception to the Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj’s request for an adjournment as the matter was pending consideration with the government.
The bench said that a total of four months had lapsed since the May 2 order.
“We gave you two months. And now, two more months have passed. You raised two technical issues. We told you, please don’t wait for that,” said the bench.
The top court said it could not tell the Center what decision has to be taken, but the government certainly should take a decision in the matter.
It directed a responsible officer from the concerned department to file an affidavit indicating the status of the matter.
“As per the ASG’s request, we adjourn the matter to Friday as the first item on board. In the meanwhile, we direct a responsible officer from the concerned department to file an affidavit indicating the progress in the matter. The affidavit is to be filed tomorrow,” the apex court stated in its order while posting the matter for September 30.
Earlier, it had asked the Centre to decide Rajoana’s plea without being influenced by the fact that the appeals filed by other convicts in the case are pending in the top court.
Rajoana had moved to the top court two years ago, seeking implementation of a decision taken by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in September 2019 to commute Rajoana’s death sentence to life. He had said that the Central government had announced its decision to commute his death penalty and grant remission to eight other convicts in 2019 to mark the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
He had sought for the implementation of that decision and alternately prayed to commute his death sentence on the ground of long delay in considering the mercy petition.
