Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and ensure the expeditious release of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination case.

In a letter to the Modi, the SAD chief said the PM should fulfill the promise made to the Sikh community to release eight Sikh prisoners who have served more than the effective equivalent of a life sentence on the eve of the 550th Parkash Purb (birth anniversary) celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019.

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Badal said the PM should intervene and expedite the matter of clemency of Rajoana with the competent authority to commute the death penalty awarded to him and ensure his release at the earliest.

The Union government had approved the commutation of Bhai Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment as a humanitarian gesture in 2019.

The SAD chief said the issue warranted the urgent attention of the PM since a clemency petition under Article 72 of the Constitution of India which was filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on 25 March 2012 was still pending with the President.

He said the Supreme Court had also issued a notice to the Union government to take a call on the mercy petition of Bhai Rajoana by 30 April.

Badal said there was no rationale to keep Rajoana behind bars when the Union government had commuted his death sentence.

He said the Sikh prisoner had already been incarcerated in prison for 26 years which was much longer than the effective duration of a life term.

Badal said the SAD had submitted a resolution to the Union government to request for commuting Rajoana’s death sentence to life term and later for his release.

He said the SGPC, which managed Sikh shrines and whose members were elected by the Sikh ‘sangat’ in a democratic manner, had also submitted representations on similar lines to the Union government.

The SAD president also made a similar plea to union home minister Amit Shah.