Supreme Court To Hear Death Row Convict Balwant Singh's Plea To Decide Mercy Petition Next Week

Specifically on Rohatgi's arguments on national security, Counsel for Punjab responded: "An affidavit was filed by the Union, wherein a national threat was stated in the affidavit that there is national threat on release of this person."

Justice Gavai first questioned why the State of Punjab says it has no role in this case. To this, the Counsel responded that the notice was issued to them because the petitioner is in one of the jails in Punjab. He added that the offence took place in Punjab but the trial and conviction took place in Chandigarh. That's why, Chandigarh is also a party.

The bench stated that the special bench was constituted only for this matter but refused to grant any interim relief as sought by Rohatgi. 

The Court ordered: "The bench has been specifically assembled only for this matter. On the last date, the matter was adjourned so as to enable the Union of India to take instruction from the office of the hon'ble President of India as to within how much period the mercy petition of the petitioner would be decided. We therefore direct, Secretary, the President of India to place the matter before the hon'ble President within a request to consider the same within 2 weeks from today. We clarify that in the event no decision is taken on the next date, we will consider the prayers made by the petitioner for interim relief."  

Background 

Out of 15 accused persons named in the FIR, Balwant Singh Rajoana along with 08 others, were put to trial and convicted for the aforesaid offences. In contrast, others were sentenced to life imprisonment. Along with Rajoana, co-accused Jagtar Singh Hawara, who was reportedly the mastermind behind the operation, was also sentenced to death

At the same time, co-accused Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh, and Lakhwinder Singh were awarded life imprisonment. The verdict was delivered inside the high-security Burail jail in Chandigarh. In total, 15 were convicted.

The assailant was one Dilawar Singh, a police officer, who along with two other officials of the Punjab police, namely, Rajoana and one Lakhwinder Singh, had, allegedly in response to Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikh pogrom in Delhi in 1984, was tasked with executing the Congress leader, known for his robust counterterrorism policies. Rajoana, a police constable, was not only responsible for ensuring that Singh reached the chief minister after crossing the security ring in the complex but was also equipped with a backup explosive device in case the first plan failed. Separatist group Babbar Khalsa International, whose primary goal is to establish a sovereign homeland called Khalistan for people of their faith, took responsibility for the assassination.

The Punjab & Haryana Court confirmed Rajoana's conviction on October 12, 2010. However, while confirming the conviction of a co-accused Jagtar Singh Hawara, the High Court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.

Singh did not file an appeal against the High Court's order. He counsel and refused to defend himself against the charges levelled by the State, in a display of open derision of the Indian judicial system. Thereafter, on March 5, 2012, a death warrant for executing his sentence was issued. However, on March 25, the same year, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee ('SGPC') preferred a mercy petition under Article 72 of the Constitution of India seeking clemency on Singh's behalf.

Subsequently, the mercy petition was processed for consideration in the Home Ministry, and a stay against its execution was intimated to the state authorities on March 28, 2012. 

The petitioner claimed that the Union government had announced in 2019 that it would commute Rajoana's death sentence to life imprisonment, besides sanctioning the premature release of eight Sikh prisoners serving life and other sentences as a humanitarian gesture to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. However, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah later informed the Lok Sabha that Rajoana had not been freed from death row. 

In 2020, Singh filed a writ petition seeking the commutation of the death penalty. On March 24, 2022, a bench of Justices UU Lalit, SR Bhat and PS Narasimha directed the Central Government to take a call by April 30, 2022 with respect to the mercy petition. In May, the same year, the bench directed that the mercy petition be decided within 2 months irrespective of the appeals pending before the Court.

The Home Ministry had filed an affidavit stating that the mercy petition could not be considered as it had been filed by another organization and not the convict himself. It was also stated the mercy petition cannot be decided until the appeals filed by other convicts in the case before the Supreme Court are not disposed (Rajoana has not challenged his conviction or sentence, either before the High Court or the Supreme Court).

Rohatgi before the Court firmly contested the State's claim that Rajoana's sentence had not been commuted yet because of 'security concerns' and the pendency of an appeal filed by a co-accused. He argued: “To keep a prisoner on death row for so long violates their fundamental rights according to judgements of this court and is a ground for their sentence to be commuted. Rajoana is entitled to be released from death row forthwith. The moment he gets his commutation order, he can apply to be released since he has already spent 27 years behind bars. It is inhuman. Alternatively, if you wish to wait for the government's response to the mercy appeals, then at the very least, grant the petitioner parole. He wants to go to his village, and he will stay there.”

On May 3, 2023, the Supreme Court bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath, and Sanjay Karol declined to commute the death penalty but directed that the mercy petition be decided by a competent authority in due course of time. However, the President has yet to decide on the mercy petition.

Case Details: Balwant Singh v. UOI & Ors, W.P.(Crl.) No. 414/2024

Appearances: Senior Advocate Mukul Rohagti (for Balwant Singh)