States » NorthPosted at: Oct 8 2026 5:02PM


Centre opposes Rajoana death commutation, cites Punjab situation; SC to hear plea on merits

By Neeraj Bali
Chandigarh, Oct 8 (UNI) The Centre has opposed death-row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana's bid to have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, prompting the Supreme Court to say it will now examine the demand on its merits.
The development marks a significant turn in the decades-old case, with Rajoana no longer merely seeking a decision on a mercy petition pending since 2012 but pressing the Supreme Court itself to commute his death sentence on the ground of prolonged delay.
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Vikram Nath and comprising Justices Sandeep Mehta and Aparesh Kumar Singh, has fixed October 28 for hearing the case. The matter is to be placed at the top of the board.
Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, appearing for the union government, made its opposition explicit before the court.
“We have objection to what they are demanding,” Nataraj told the bench, according to reports of the proceedings.
Referring to conditions in Punjab, he added that it would not be “conducive” to take such a decision at present.
The bench responded that since Rajoana was pressing for conversion of his death sentence into life imprisonment and the Centre was opposing that relief, the court would hear the matter on merits. Nataraj sought time to prepare the government's case, following which the hearing was posted for October 28.
Rajoana's counsel Diksha Rai is expected to rely on previous SC judgments dealing with prolonged delays in deciding mercy petitions and their implications for death-row prisoners.
The case presents the court with a contentious constitutional question: whether the extraordinary passage of time in deciding a mercy plea can itself justify judicial commutation when the executive argues that national security and the prevailing situation in Punjab weigh against such relief.
Rajoana has been in custody for more than 30 years. His plea says the mercy petition filed on his behalf has remained undecided since 2012 and argues that the prolonged uncertainty violates his right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee filed the mercy petition in March 2012, shortly before Rajoana was scheduled to be executed.
His execution had been fixed for March 31, 2012, but was stayed after the mercy petition was submitted.
Rajoana was convicted for his role in the suicide bombing outside the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995, that killed Beant Singh and others. A special court sentenced him to death in July 2007 and the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the sentence in 2010.
The latest proceedings also bring renewed attention to the Centre's own 2019 position.
The union Home Ministry had announced a decision in September 2019 to commute Rajoana's death sentence to life imprisonment as part of measures associated with the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. That decision, however, was not subsequently implemented.
Rajoana approached the Supreme Court in 2020 over the continuing delay.
In May 2023, the SC declined to itself commute his death sentence at that stage and left the mercy petition to the competent authority. The government had cited national security and possible law-and-order implications in Punjab while explaining why consideration of the mercy petition had been deferred.
The issue returned to the Supreme Court in a fresh petition in 2024.
Earlier this year, the court took a stern view of delays in the Centre filing its response and directed it to submit an affidavit, saying that otherwise Rajoana's assertions would remain uncontroverted.
The legal focus sharpened further last month.
On September 23, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, told the Supreme Court that he was limiting the petition to the prayer for commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment. He also supplied the Centre with a compilation of judgments on which Rajoana intended to rely. The court then gave the union government time to examine the issue.
The Centre's latest opposition has now crystallised the dispute.
Instead of waiting indefinitely for an executive decision on the mercy petition, the Supreme Court is confronted with a direct plea for judicial commutation based substantially on the passage of time.
The October 28 hearing will therefore pit Rajoana's argument of extraordinary delay against the Centre's reliance on the prevailing situation in Punjab and its earlier concerns over national security and law and order.
The court has not expressed any view on whether the death sentence should ultimately be commuted.
But with Rajoana now expressly pressing for a life sentence and the Centre expressly opposing it, the next hearing is set to put the substantive question of commutation squarely before the three-judge bench.
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Tags: #Centre opposes Rajoana death commutation# cites Punjab situation; SC to hear plea on merits
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