Balwant Singh Rajoana was convicted in the 1995 assassination case of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. (File photo)

Expedite Beant Singh's killer's mercy plea: Supreme Court to President's Office

Balwant Singh Rajoana was convicted in the 1995 assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.

by · India Today

In Short

  • Supreme Court asks President's office to decide Balwant Rajoana's mercy plea in 2 weeks
  • Court criticises Centre's absence in hearing
  • The court will hear the case again on December 5

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered President Droupadi Murmu's office to take a decision on the mercy petition of the death-row prisoner Balwant Singh Rajoana within two weeks.

Rajoana was convicted in the 1995 assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.

"Inspite of the matter being specifically kept today, none appeared for the Union of India. The bench assembled only for this case," the court said.

"On the last date, the matter was adjourned to enable the Union to take instructions from the office of the President as to when the mercy plea will be decided. Taking into consideration that the petitioner is on death row, we direct the secretary to the President of India to place the matter before the President with a request to consider the same within two weeks from today," it added.

The court said that it would consider the mercy petition of Rajoana if the President's office does not make a decision on it. "We clarified that in the event no decision is taken, we will consider prayers made by petitioner for interim relief," the court said, Live Law reported.

The court has listed the case to be heard on December 5.

Earlier in September, the court sought responses from the Centre and the Punjab government on the matter.

The Punjab chief minister and 16 others were killed in a blast at the civil secretariat entrance in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.

A special court sentenced Rajoana to death in July 2007.

Rajoana said that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee filed a mercy petition under Article 72 of the Constitution on his behalf in March 2012.

On May 3 last year, the Supreme Court declined to commute his death sentence, directing the competent authority to address his mercy plea.