The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on November 25, a plea filed by death row convict and Babbar Khalsa terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana, seeking commutation of his death sentence on the grounds of ‘extraordinary’ and ‘inordinate delay’ in deciding his mercy petition.
The Special Bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan passed the order at 1 pm, on the request of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
Appearing for the Central government, the SG urged the Court to hear the Union of India in the matter. The Special Bench agreed to the request and directed not to upload the order passed earlier in the day.
Earlier in the day, the Special Bench had directed the Secretary of the President of India to place Rajoana’s mercy petition before her with a request to consider the same within two weeks from today.
The Apex Court said that if the mercy petition was not considered within the time stipulated, it would consider the prayers made by the petitioner for interim relief.
The Special Bench made the observations while hearing a petition filed by Rajoana under Article 32 seeking commutation of his death sentence on the grounds of ‘extraordinary’ and ‘inordinate delay’ in deciding his mercy petition, which has remained pending before the President since 2012.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation Court had convicted Rajoana, a former officer of Punjab Police, over his alleged involvement in an incident involving a deadly suicide bombing at the Chandigarh Secretariat Complex on August 31, 1995, which resulted in the death of 17 people, including the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
The Special CBI court had convicted Rajoana on July 27, 2007, under Sections 120-B, 302, 307 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 3(b), 4(b) and 5(b) r/w 6 of the Explosives Substances Act, 1908.
On September 27, the Apex Court issued notice on Rajoana’s petition. The plea came up for hearing on November 4 but the Union government sought some time to take instructions regarding how much time the President of India would take to decide on the mercy petition.
The Special Bench was today apprised that there was no response from the Union government. Expressing its dismay, the Court said the Special Bench was constituted for this purpose only and the Court had deferred hearing the matter on the last occasion only because the Central government sought some time.
The Apex Court orally remarked that the Union of India had taken the matter very casually.
Appearing for Rajaona, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted that there has been no reply from the Central government.
The counsel representing the State of Punjab said they had no role to play as the mercy petition was with the President and the Union of India had to file a response in the matter. The notice was issued to the State because the petitioner was in one of the jails in Punjab. The offence took place in Punjab but the trial and conviction took place in Chandigarh. Therefore, Chandigarh was also a party, he added.
The Bench observed that the Solicitor had to appear in this matter.
Rohatgi further contended that if the State had no objection, the Court could proceed further with the matter. He argued that the communication was addressed to the Union government some 28-29 years ago. They have yet not responded.
Other accused, who were in the same batch as Rajoana and convicted in the death case of Bulhar, their death sentence had been commuted to life by a curative petition on the grounds of unexplained delay for eight years.
Rajoana’s mercy petition was filed by the Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee in 2012. This man has not seen the light of the day outside jail since, he added.
The Counsel for the petitioner contended that this was not a case of national security. Rajoana was the only one left on death row.
The Counsel appearing for the State of Punjab responded that an affidavit was filed by the Union, stating that there was a national threat on the release of this person.
As per the case, out of 15 accused persons named in the FIR, Rajoana along with eight others, was put to trial and convicted in the Chandigarh suicide bombing case. In contrast, others were sentenced to life imprisonment. Along with Rajoana, co-accused Jagtar Singh Hawara, who was reportedly the mastermind behind the operation, was also sentenced to death. Co-accused Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh, and Lakhwinder Singh were awarded life imprisonment. The verdict was delivered inside the high-security Burail jail in Chandigarh. In total, 15 people were convicted in the blast case.
It was alleged that Dilawar Singh, a police officer, along with two other officials of the Punjab police, namely Rajoana and one Lakhwinder Singh, in response to Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikh pogrom in Delhi in 1984, were allegedly tasked with executing the Congress leader, known for his robust counterterrorism policies.
Rajoana, a police constable, was not only responsible for ensuring that Singh reached the chief minister after crossing the security ring in the complex, but was also equipped with a backup explosive device in case the first plan failed. Separatist group Babbar Khalsa International had claimed responsibility for the assassination.
On October 12, 2010, the Punjab and Haryana High Court confirmed Rajoana’s conviction. However, it commuted the death sentence of co-accused Jagtar Singh Hawara to life imprisonment.
On March 5, 2012, a death warrant for executing his sentence was issued. On March 25, 2012, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) preferred a mercy petition under Article 72 of the Constitution of India seeking clemency on Singh’s behalf.
Subsequently, the mercy petition was processed for consideration in the Home Ministry, and a stay against its execution was intimated to the state authorities on March 28, 2012.
The petitioner claimed that the Union government had announced in 2019 that it would commute Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment, besides sanctioning the premature release of eight Sikh prisoners serving life and other sentences as a humanitarian gesture to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. However, Home Minister Amit Shah later informed the Lok Sabha that Rajoana had not been freed from death row.
In 2020, Singh filed a writ petition seeking the commutation of the death penalty.
On March 24, 2022, the Bench of Justice UU Lalit, Justice SR Bhat and Justice PS Narasimha directed the Central Government to take a call by April 30, 2022 with respect to the mercy petition. In May, 2022, the Bench directed that the mercy petition be decided within two months, irrespective of the appeals pending before the Court.
The Home Ministry had filed an affidavit stating that the mercy petition could not be considered as it had been filed by another organisation and not the convict himself. It also could not be decided until the appeals filed by other convicts in the case before the Supreme Court were not disposed of.
Rajoana has not challenged his conviction or sentence, either before the High Court or the Supreme Court.
Rohatgi argued that to keep a prisoner on death row for so long violated his fundamental rights according to judgements of this court and could be considered as a ground for their sentence to be commuted.
On May 3, 2023, the Bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sanjay Karol declined to commute the death penalty but directed that the mercy petition be decided by a competent authority in due course of time. However, the President is yet to decide on the mercy petition.