A case to dispose of mercy petitions swiftly
Updated:
Updated:
January 22, 2021 01:11 IST
The prolonged detention of death row convicts in prison is inhuman and against the canons of justice
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Balwant Singh Rajoana.
The prolonged detention of death row convicts in prison is inhuman and against the canons of justice
Balwant Singh Rajoana, former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassin, was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special CBI court. His mercy petition was filed by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee in 2014. In 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs sent a letter to the Punjab government to commute Rajoana’s death sentence. It said it had taken an “in principle” decision to commute the death sentence as a “humanitarian gesture” ahead of the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev. But its decision could not be implemented because the Cabinet did not send the file to the President. Rajoana has been incarcerated for over 25 years. The Supreme Court pulled up the government for its laxity and fixed the next hearing for sometime in January 2021.