Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, May 3: The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a request to commute Balwant Singh Rajoana’s 1995 conviction for the murder of then-Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh from death to life in prison. In July 2007, Rajoana received a death sentence for his part in the murder of Beant Singh. He has spent the last 26 years imprisoned.
Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath, and Sanjay Karol were on a Supreme Court panel that stated the competent authorities would decide on the convict’s request for mercy.
On March 2, the Supreme Court reserved judgement on Rajoana’s appeal after hearing arguments from Additional Solicitor General K M Natraj and senior attorney Mukul Rohatgi, who was representing the convict.
In 2007, a CBI court sentenced Rajaona to death for the 1995 murder of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. But after an MHA decision in 2012 and appeals from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), his execution was put on hold.
Prior to the terrorist attack, Rajaona was a police constable. In 2020, he filed a petition with the Supreme Court, arguing that the Centre had decided to commute his death sentence in 2019 as part of Guru Nanak’s 550th Prakash Parv, but he had not received any relief. At the time, the Home Minister had stated in Parliament that no such decision had been made to commute Rajaona’s sentence.
