New Delhi, April 22: The Supreme Court has warned the Centre that its time to respond to Balwant Singh Rajoana’s plea for clemency is running out, setting a non-negotiable two-week deadline for a counter-affidavit. Rajoana, who has spent nearly three decades in prison for his role in the 1995 assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, argues that the 12-year delay in processing his mercy petition justifies a commutation of his death penalty to a life sentence.
During the proceedings, the bench expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of progress, asking the Centre why a counter-affidavit had not been filed to date. Counsel for the government indicated a preference for submitting sensitive documents privately, but the justices affirmed that the government must place its position on the affidavit. The court maintained its stance from last September, declaring that further requests for adjournment would not be viewed favorably.
Mukul Rohatgi, counsel for the convict, affirmed that his client has undergone 28.8 years of imprisonment, more than half of which has been under the shadow of a death warrant. He stated that the SGPC had submitted the clemency plea under Article 72 as far back as 2012. Rohatgi maintained that the ongoing delay contradicts the apex court’s 2023 directive, which instructed appropriate authorities to decide such petitions without inordinate lag.
The legal battle follows the 1995 explosion in Chandigarh that fundamentally altered Punjab’s political landscape. While a 2023 ruling by the top court declined to commute the sentence at that time, it left the door open for the competent authority to resolve the mercy plea. With the new two-week deadline, the court asserted that the government must now justify the continued incarceration of a death row inmate whose final appeal has remained undecided for over 15 years.
