The Supreme Court on Monday put on hold its order passed earlier in the morning asking the Secretary to the President of India Droupadi Murmu to place the mercy petition of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana before the President with a request to consider it within two weeks.

Rajoana was awarded the death sentence for his involvement in the assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995 at Chandigarh.

The order asking the Secretary to the President Murmu to place before the President, Rajoana’s mercy petition with a request to consider it within two weeks was put on hold later in the day after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in a mentioning urged the bench that the order should not be given effect to as there are “sensitivities” involved in the issue and that it be heard on Friday – November 22, 2024.

The matter will now be heard on Monday – November 25, 2024.

In the morning, the Central government was not represented in the hearing by a special bench comprising Justice BT Gavai, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan.

Earlier in the morning a special bench comprising Justice Gavai, Justice Mishra and Justice Viswanathan had said that if mercy petition was not considered within the time stipulated, it will consider the petition for granting interim relief.

At the outset of the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Rajoana told the bench that the government said that it is not the right time to decide the issue. “When then after his life is over? This is not a case of national security,” senior advocate told the bench.

The bench in the morning hearing had questioned non-representation of the central government before it and said that the special bench was constituted for this purpose only and the court had deferred the hearing on the matter on the last occasion only because the Centre had sought some time.

Advocate appearing for the Punjab government told the bench that the Central government had stated earlier that there is a national threat if he is released. In the last hearing of the matter on November 4, the Supreme court had asked both the Central and the Punjab governments to clarify their position on the mercy petition by Rajoana.

The bench then in its order noted, “The bench has been specifically assembled only for this matter. On the last date, the matter was adjourned so as to enable the Union of India to take instruction from the office of the President of India as to within how much period the mercy petition of the petitioner (Balwant Singh Rajoana) would be decided. We therefore direct, Secretary, the President of India to place the matter before the President within a request to consider the same within two weeks from today. We clarify that in the event no decision is taken on the next date, we will consider the prayers made by the petitioner for interim relief.”

Thereafter the bench posted the matter for hearing on December 5 at 10.30 am.

The top court was hearing the plea of petitioner death-row convict Rajoana for release from jail. On November 4, the top court had said that they would only consider Rajoana’s plea seeking release only after hearing the central and the Punjab governments.

Rajoana, a sympathizer of the militant group Babbar Khalsa, has sought the commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on the grounds of ‘extraordinary’ and ‘inordinate delay’ of one year and four months in deciding his mercy petition, which remains pending before the President of India.

Rajoana has sought consequential release on the grounds that he has undergone a total sentence of 28 years and eight months as of date, of which 17 years have been served as a death row convict in an “8 x 10” capital punishment cell, including 2.5 years in solitary confinement.

The convict, Balwant Singh Rajoana, was sentenced to death for the murder of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, who died in a bomb explosion in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.