Beant Singh assassination case: SC asks Centre to resolve Rojana’s plea to commute dying penalty earlier than Jan 26

The Supreme Court on Friday requested the Centre to resolve earlier than January 26 on the plea looking for commutation of the dying penalty of Balwant S Rajoana who’s convicted within the assassination case of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde mentioned the choice must be taken earlier than January 26 which is a “good date”.
In December final yr, the courtroom had questioned the delay on the a part of the Centre in sending a proposal associated to Rajona’s dying sentence to the President underneath Article 72 of the Constitution, which offers with the President granting pardon, suspending, remitting or commuting sentences in sure instances.
Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was convicted for his involvement in an explosion exterior the Punjab civil secretariat that killed Beant Singh and 16 others in 1995.
He was arrested in December 1995 by the Punjab Police and a particular CBI courtroom in Chandigarh awarded him the dying penalty on July 27, 2007.
It additionally gave the dying penalty to Jagtar Singh Hawara, and life imprisonment to Gurmit Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Shamsher Singh, concerned within the assassination case.
Rajoana was to be hanged on March 31, 2012, however the Centre stayed the execution after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) submitted a mercy petition to the President.
Demanding a choice on the mercy petition filed by the SGPC, Rajoana went on starvation strikes in 2016 and 2018 in Patiala Central Jail and he ended a five-day starvation strike after SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal assured him that his petition might be taken up expeditiously.