On Monday, the Supreme Court asked the Indian government to decide by March 18 whether Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is on death row for killing a former Punjab chief minister, deserves mercy. Justice B R Gavai told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that this is a “last chance” and urged the government to make a decision. If a decision is not reached, the court will consider Rajoana’s request to change his death sentence to life in prison.
Mehta explained the importance of this case and requested an extra six weeks. Rajoana’s lawyer pointed out that he has already spent almost 29 years in prison. The judges said they will hear the case again on March 18 and hope the government will have made a decision by then.
Rajoana was sentenced to death in 2007 for his role in a bomb blast that killed the Punjab chief minister and 16 others in 1995. In his plea, he asked the court to commute his death sentence because the government has taken too long to decide his mercy request.
Rajoana’s petition mentions that he has been in prison for nearly 29 years, with 17 of those years as a death row convict. It also notes that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee filed a mercy petition on his behalf in March 2012. The Supreme Court had ordered the government to quickly handle Rajoana’s mercy petition.
Leave a Reply