THE Supreme Court on Wednesday asked why death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana, held guilty for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995, was not hanged till now after the Centre said it was a “serious offence”. Rajoana has been incarcerated for the last 29 years, of which 15 years have been on death row. Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria was informed about the seriousness of the crime by Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj. “Why did you not hang him till now? Who is to blame for that. At least, we have not stayed the execution,” the bench asked Nataraj.

 

The top court is hearing Rajoana’s plea for commutation of his death penalty to life term on the ground of delay in the decision on his mercy plea. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, said there has been no decision on his client’s mercy plea. Nataraj said he would take instructions and apprise the bench about the status. “One does not know what is going on,” Rohatgi said, adding that the apex court had earlier said the mercy petition should be decided in time. He said they did not know whether Rajoana was in solitary confinement or in a sane sense, or not.

 

“If the death sentence has to go, commutation must happen. If commutation happen, he can come out,” Rohatgi said. Contending Rajoana was an Indian citizen, Rohatgi said it was not an “India-Pakistan issue”. He said the apex court has observed Rajoana did not file the mercy petition himself but it was filed by a gurudwara committee. The bench posted the case for October 15 and maintained the matter would not be adjourned at the Centre’s instance.