The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to take a decision by March 18 on the mercy petition of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination case of then Punjab CM Beant Singh.
“We are granting you time by way of a last chance. Either you take a decision or otherwise we will hear it on merits,” a bench of Justices B R Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Viswanathan told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre. The bench was hearing Rajoana’s plea seeking directions to commute his death sentence to life term due to the “inordinate delay” in deciding his mercy plea.
Mehta referred to the sensitivity involved in the matter and said the mercy petition was under consideration. “It is a murder of a sitting chief minister in a terror attack. It is serious and has ramifications,” Mehta said and requested six weeks time. Rajoana’s counsel said while his client spent about 29 years in jail, he spent over 15 years on death row.
On Nov 25 last year, the Centre informed the SC that there was sensitivity involved in the matter related to the mercy petition.
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