Supreme Court Questions Centre on Delay in Balwant Singh Rajoana’s Death Sentence Commutation

Supreme Court Takes a Stand on Mercy Plea Delay

The Central Government is now being questioned by the Supreme Court of India, regarding a major and extended delay in finalizing its decision on the mercy of Balwant Singh Rajoana. Rajoana is a death row prisoner involved in assassination of a former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995. The court has shown its immense dissatisfaction and requested the government to provide reasons as to why it has not taken any action over several years on a decision announced publicly.

This court action demonstrates a vital problem related to the rights of death row prisoners. The Supreme Court does not pay attention to the crime but to the duty of the executive to conduct mercy petitions promptly. Having a convict serving an indefinite sentence under the threat of the death sentence, particularly after a process of commuting the sentence has been reported, casts some dark clouds on the concept of justice, fairness, and humanitarianism.

The court has strongly urged the ministry of home affairs to give a clear cut and send the matter to an end. The judges have been categorical that the government cannot afford to leave the problem unsolved. Such a continuous examination by the Supreme Court of the country places the Central Government in a bad situation as it must now face a politically and emotionally charged case that has taken too long to solve.

The case has now turned to be a process question as opposed to a question of guilt. The Supreme Court is looking at the possibility that the inaction by the government constitutes a breach of the rights of the convict. The way the court stood firm highlights the rule that a delayed justice is justice denied even in the case of individuals who commit the most heinous crimes. This is awaiting a final ruling that will have far reaching implications in handling mercy pleas in future.

The Case of Balwant Singh Rajoana

Balwant Singh Rajoana is a retired Punjab Police constable who was found guilty in regards to his involvement as a backup human bomb in the assassination of Chief Minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995. This assassination that occurred in the external civil secretariat in Chandigarh was a significant occasion in the events of the events that had occurred after the militancy period in Punjab. The Babba Khalsa International is a Sikh militant group that carried out the attack.

In July 2007, a special court indicted Rajoana to death. His situation is special since he has been adamant to defend himself in the court claiming that he does not trust the Indian judiciary. His conviction or his death sentence is a case he has never pleaded and he has openly confessed to taking part in the assassination scheme. He and his followers have continued to argue that the action was a reaction to the so-called human rights violation that took place during the crackdown on militancy by the government in Punjab.

Rajoana was due to be hanged on March 31, 2012. His execution was however put on hold following a petition seeking mercy on his behalf that was submitted to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a leading Sikh religious outfit. And he has ever since been incarcerated in Patiala Central Jail, and his mercy request has been awaiting the President of India, on the recommendation of the Central Government.

Being in prison over 26 years, serving as the death row over 15 of them, Rajoana has turned out to be a series of debates about the capital punishment and the rights of prisoners in America. His extended prison sentence and the impending result of his petition of mercy are now the pivotal point in the legal action in the Supreme Court, which has been compelling to issue the final decision.

A Promise Made but Not Kept

In September 2019, the case had a dramatic twist. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs released a special remission of some of the prisoners countrywide as part of the festivities to mark the 550 th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism. The ministry made a move to reverse the death sentence handed to Balwant Singh Rajoana, a death row prisoner, to serve life imprisonment in a highly visible humanitarian action.

The family and supporters of Rajoana together with some political and religious organizations in Punjab received this announcement with relief and gratitude. It was regarded as a great move towards reconciliation and human way out of a longstanding problem. It was hoped that the official procedure that the commutation would take place would proceed with rapidity, and eventually a definitive decision would be made in the Presidential office.

Nevertheless, even after this announcement to the general public, this suggestion by the government was never presented to the President of India. The process of a mercy plea under Article 72 of the Constitution is that the Home Ministry must send its recommendation to the President and then the President decides. This is a vital measure that was not taken during years and Rajoana ended up in a limbo position.

It is this inability to follow its own public statement that is the subject of questioning currently by the Supreme Court. The petitioners have further claimed that the government cannot make such a huge promise and on one hand reverse it or postpone it indefinitely. The court is currently investigating the question of whether this non-action was arbitrary and whether the government can be made to act on its declaration of 2019.

The Government’s Stance and the Court’s Scrutiny

The Central Government has given various reasons why the delay was caused in its replies to the Supreme Court. It has claimed that it is a very sensitive issue and has bad national security repercussions. The government has also indicated that other co-accused who have filed appeals of the same assassination case are yet to have their cases decided by the Supreme Court and this indicates that a decision on the plea made by Rajoana should be put on hold pending the appeal decision of the other co-accused.

The Supreme Court has been found, however, not to have been convinced of these arguments much. The judges have cast doubt on how the appeals of other convicts that are pending can bar the President in deciding on a mercy petition of Rajoana. Executive powers, which are different to the courts, are the powers of granting a pardon or commuting a sentence. The court has proposed that the two processes may not always be in need of one another.