Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the lack of response from the Center in the murder case of former Punjab Chief Minister Bint Singh. The Supreme Court ordered President Draupadi Murmu’s office to take a decision on death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana’s mercy petition within two weeks. In 1995, Rajona was convicted of murdering the then chief minister of Punjab, Bit Singh.
The court said that although the matter was specifically mentioned today, no one from the Center’s side was present. Only this case sat on the bench. The case has been adjourned on an earlier date so that the Center can take instructions from the President’s Office on when to take a decision on the mercy petition.
Call for the death penalty to be commuted to life imprisonment
“Considering that the petitioner has been sentenced to death, we direct the Secretary to the President of India to refer the matter to the President for consideration within two weeks from today,” the Supreme Court said. . The petition filed by Lajoana calls for the death penalty to be commuted to life imprisonment. Lajoana said he has been in prison for 29 years and his clemency petition has been pending for 12 years. During the last hearing, the Center told the Supreme Court that Rajoana’s mercy petition was pending. We will respond to this.
Bit Singh was murdered in 1995
On August 31, 1995, the Chief Minister of Punjab and 16 others were killed in a blast at the entrance to the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh. In July 2007, a special court sentenced Lajoana to death. Rajona said the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had filed a mercy petition on his behalf under Article 72 of the Constitution in March 2012. On May 3 last year, the Supreme Court refused to commute his death sentence and directed the competent authorities to consider his mercy petition.
