New Delhi [India], November 25 (HBTV): The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned for four weeks the petition of death-row prisoner Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is seeking commutation of his sentence for the assassination of Punjab's then Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra, and KV Viswanathan decided to defer the hearing after the Centre requested more time, stating that the matter is "sensitive" and additional inputs from other agencies are needed.

Rajoana, a supporter of the Babbar Khalsa militant group, filed a plea related to the delay in deciding his mercy petition. He sought commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment due to the "extraordinary" delay of one year and four months in considering his mercy petition, which is still pending before the President of India.

Rajoana has been in jail for nearly 29 years, with 17 years served in a death-row cell, including 2.5 years in solitary confinement. He is seeking release on the grounds of the delay in the decision regarding his mercy petition.

In 2019, the Centre had decided to commute Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment in connection with the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. However, this decision has yet to be implemented. Rajoana filed a petition in 2020 seeking commutation of his sentence. The Supreme Court had previously asked the Centre to make a decision regarding the mercy petition.

In May 2024, the Court declined to commute the death sentence but directed the competent authority to address the mercy petition in due course of time, citing national security and law and order concerns.

Rajoana was sentenced to death for the bomb explosion that killed Beant Singh in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. He was scheduled to be executed on March 31, 2012, but the execution was stayed by the then Central government after a mercy petition was filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

(ANI)