Asking both the Central and the Punjab governments to clarify their position on the mercy petition by death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana – the 1995 assassin of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh – the Supreme Court on Monday posted the matter for hearing on November 18, stating that it needs clarity on the status of the mercy plea before taking any decision.

A bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Viswanathan adjourned the hearing by two weeks and asked both the Centre and Punjab to clarify their stand on the mercy petition, as senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the bench that “This man has been in custody without a break for 29 years till today. Originally, he was convicted for the offence of bomb explosion in 1996…”

Senior advocate Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, urged the bench to grant temporary release to Rajoana.

Appearing for the Central government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that the mercy plea was likely still under consideration with the President and requested more time to verify its status.

A sympathiser of militant outfit Babbar Khalsa, Rajoana has sought commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment in connection with his role in the assassination of Beant Singh.

Besides seeking the commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment, 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.

Rajoana has sought commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment on the grounds of ‘extraordinary’ and ‘inordinate delay’ in deciding his mercy petition, which remains pending before the President of India.

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

In 2020, Singh filed a petition seeking the commutation of the death penalty. The top court had then asked the Central government to take a call with respect to the mercy petition.

In May 2024, the top court declined to commute the death penalty but had directed that the mercy petition be decided by a competent authority in due course of time. It had noted the stand of the Ministry of Home Affairs to defer the decision on Rajoana’s mercy petition on the ground of national security and law and order situation.

A Chandigarh court on July 27, 2007, awarded the death sentence to Rajoana which was upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on October 12, 2010. Rajoana has not appealed against the High Court order confirming the death sentence awarded by the trial court.

Rajoana’s death sentence was scheduled to be carried out on March 31, 2012, however, the execution was stayed on March 28, 2012, by the then Central government after Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) — a Sikh religious body – filed a mercy petition with the President.