Won't commute Rajoana's death sentence, says SC

Stating that it is for the Union government to take a call on "such a sensitive issue", the Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to commute Babbar Khalsa terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana's death sentence to life imprisonment, adding the Centre may "in due course of time" consider his mercy plea in connection with former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassination in 1995.

- Utkarsh Anand

A bench led by Justice BR Gavai noted that the stand of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to defer the decision on the mercy petition for commutation of Rajoana's death penalty on grounds of national security and the law and order situation "actually amounts to a decision declining to grant the same for the present".

"It would not be within the domain of this court to delve upon the decision of the competent authority to defer taking of any decision at present. It is within the domain of the executive to take a call on such sensitive issues. As such this Court does not deem it appropriate to issue any further directions," said the bench, also comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol.

Rajoana's sister Kamaldeep Kaur said the judgment was "unfortunate", and added that her brother no longer posed any threat to society. "What threat does he pose to society after being in jail for 28 years, of which he has been on death row for 16 years," asked Kamaldeep, who unsuccessfully contested for the Sangrur parliament constituency in 2022 on a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ticket.

The judgment, authored by justice Nath, further noted that the Centre cannot be accused of an inordinate delay in the matter since Rajoana never filed a mercy petition himself and the one pending before the President was moved by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a Sikh religious body, in 2012.