Beant case: Supreme Court refuses interim relief to Rajoana

Beant Singh assassination case convict Balwant Singh Rajoana on Monday failed to get any interim relief as the Supreme Court deferred the hearing on his petition seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment to November 18.

“No interim relief without hearing them (the Centre and the Punjab Government) out,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice BR Gavai told senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Rajoana.

The court’s observation came after Rohatgi urged the Bench to grant some interim relief to the convict and release him for a few months in view of the fact that his mercy petition had been pending for 12 years.

“He (Rajoana) is a finished person. At least let him out for six months… At least, let him see what is outside… His mercy plea has been pending for the past 12 years. With great respect, it’s a complete violation of Article 21. I am requesting some interim relief,” Rohatgi said, terming it a “shocking case” in which the convict had been in custody for 29 years.

Rohatgi pointed out that out of 29 years, for 17 years he had been on death row and despite that the government had not disposed of his mercy plea while others’ death penalties had been commuted to life imprisonment by the SC. He said Rajaona’s earlier petition was disposed of in May 2023 saying that the authorities concerned would take action on it in due course but nothing had happened in the past year and a half. The Bench, which also included Justice PK Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan, however, deferred the hearing by two weeks after the Punjab Government sought time to respond to Rajaona’s petition.

Stating that Rajoana was convicted of assassinating a sitting Chief Minister of Punjab, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said he needed to seek instructions on his petition.

“Decide it either way or we will consider it (Rajoana’s plea),” the Bench told Mehta after he said Rajoana’s mercy petition was pending before the President.

Convicted of assassinating Beant Singh in 1995, Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, has been in jail for more than 28 years, awaiting his execution.

The former Punjab Chief Minister and 16 others were killed in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. Rajoana was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special court.

On May 3, 2023, the top court had refused to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment and asked the Centre to take a decision on his mercy plea “as and when it is deemed necessary”.

More than 16 months after refusing to commute the death penalty of Rajoana, the SC had on September 25 agreed to re-examine the issue afresh. It had asked the Centre and the Punjab Government to respond to his fresh petition for commutation of his death penalty on the ground that the Centre had failed to take a decision on his March 25, 2012, mercy petition till date.