New Delhi [India], September 24 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre why death-row prisoner Balwant Singh Rajoana has not been hanged, who was held guilty for the assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995, till now.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria remarked after the Centre said it was a "serious offence".
The bench asked Solicitor General KM Nataraj, representing the Centre, "Why did you not hang him till now? Who is to blame for that? At least, we have not stayed the execution."
The apex court was hearing the plea of Rajoana seeking commutation on the grounds of delay in considering the mercy petition pending before the President of India since 2012.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, argued that there has been no decision on his client's mercy plea. He said the apex court had earlier said the mercy petition should be decided in time.
"This man has been on death row for 15 years. He is sometimes in solitary confinement. I don't know if he is in his senses or not. One does not know what is going on," Rohatgi added.
Senior counsel further said that earlier, the top court had observed Rajoana did not file the mercy petition himself. He added that but the petition was filed by a Gurdwara committee. Nataraj said he would take instructions and apprise the court about the status.
The apex court then posted the plea for hearing on October 15 and stated that the matter would not be adjourned at the Centre's instance.
On January 20, the top court had asked the Centre to take a decision on his mercy petition by March 18 after the Centre sought more time to decide the mercy petition.
The apex court had said that it would grant more time to the Centre; however, on the next hearing, if the government has not decided the case, the court will hear the matter on merits.
The Centre had maintained that the matter is "sensitive" as it's related to the murder of a sitting Chief Minister and sought time to decide the mercy petition, saying the government is considering it.
Rajoana, a sympathiser of the Babbar Khalsa militant group, sought the commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment in connection with his role in the assassination of Beant Singh.
Rajoana sought commutation of the death sentence on the grounds of 'extraordinary' and 'inordinate delay' in deciding his mercy petition, which remains pending before the President of India.
The petition sought consequential release because he has undergone a total sentence of almost 29 years, of which 17 years have been served as a death row convict in an 8" x 10" capital punishment cell, including 2.5 years in solitary confinement.
The convict, Rajoana, was sentenced to death for the murder of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who died in a bomb explosion in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.
The Centre had decided on September 27, 2019, to commute the death penalty of Rajoana to a life sentence on the special occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. However, the decision is yet to be implemented.
In 2020, Rajoana filed a petition seeking the commutation of the death penalty. The apex court had then asked the Central government to take a call with respect to the mercy petition.
In May 2024, the top court declined to commute the death penalty but directed that the mercy petition be decided by a competent authority in due course of time. It noted that the stand of the MHA to defer the decision on Rajoana's mercy petition on the grounds of national security and law and order situation.
A Chandigarh court had, on July 27, 2007, awarded a death sentence to Rajoana, which the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld on October 12, 2010. Rajoana has not filed an appeal against the High Court's decision.
Rajoana was scheduled to be hanged on March 31, 2012; however, the execution was stayed on March 28, 2012, by the then Central government after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) -- a Sikh religious body, filed a mercy petition with the President.