A former Punjab Police constable Rajoana was convicted in the year 1995 for his involvement in an explosion which took place outside the Punjab civil secretariat that killed the former Chief Minister Beant Singh and few other people.
The Supreme Court has today issued directions to the Centre for deciding the conversion of death penalty that was given to him to life imprisonment within another 2 months.
Balwant Singh Rajoana’s had put forward a plea mentioning that his death penalty in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh should be commuted to life imprisonment on ground of his long incarceration of nearly 26 years.
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Bench of Justice Uday Umesh Lalit said that the pendency of appeals from other accused should not in the way while deciding on the case of Rajoana plea.
The top court has been hearing Rajoana’s plea seeking commutation of the death sentence to life term on the ground that he has been in jail for 26 year
In the year 2007, Rajoana was awarded the death Sentence. The order comes after the Supreme Court in March directed the Union government to immediately take a decision on granting pardon to Balwant Singh Rajoana, asking it to file an action taken report on the decision.
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A further hearing was listed for May 2 in case the Centre fails to make a decision