September 26, 2024: The Supreme Court has agreed to reconsider the petition from Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the murder case of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment. This comes about 16 months after the court previously dismissed a similar petition.
A bench led by Justice BR Gavai issued a notice on Rajoana’s petition, seeking responses from both the Central and Punjab Governments. The petition argues that the Centre has failed to decide on his mercy petition submitted on March 25, 2012.
Notably, Rajoana has been in prison for 28 years, awaiting execution following his conviction in the Beant Singh murder case in 1995. The bombing outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995, resulted in the deaths of Beant Singh and 16 others.
In 2007, a special court sentenced Rajoana to death, and his mercy petition has been pending for over 12 years.
The Supreme Court had previously rejected the appeal to convert his death sentence to life imprisonment on May 3, 2023, stating that the Centre should decide on the mercy petition whenever deemed necessary.
