Chandigarh:
A court in Punjab will today take up a petition seeking deferment of Balwant Singh Rajoana's execution. Mr Rajoana was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special CBI court in Chandigarh for his role in the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh. Mr Singh was killed in 1995. Here are 10 big developments in this story:
1) The petition seeking deferment of Mr Rajoana's hanging has been filed by the superintendent of Patiala central jail. Authorities at this jail have been asked by the court to execute Mr Rajoana on March 31, Saturday. But last week, the jail officials returned the death warrant issued by the court.
2) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said in the Assembly yesterday that Mr Rajoana cannot be executed on Saturday. "After looking into the all legal aspects of the case minutely, the jail superintendent of the Central Jail in Patiala is of the view that since this case has many legal and constitutional shortcomings, loopholes and flaws, the execution of the court order is impossible within the ambit of law," the Chief Minister said.
3) His announcement came on a day when the Shiromani Gurdwara Pharbandhak Committee or SGPC, which functions as a parliament of Sikhs, sent a mercy petition to President Pratibha Patil. It allegedly cites 11 other similar cases where the death sentence was commuted.
4) The Sikh clergy has said the state government must fight to save Mr Rajoana. The Akal Takht, which is the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, has conferred the title of zinda shaheed or living martyr conferred on him by Sikh high priests. Mr Rajoana has said he does not want this title.
5) Mr Rajoana, who has been convicted for being a Babbar Khalsa terrorist, has refused to defend himself in any court saying he wants to die for "the cause of Khalistan" (a separate Sikh homeland).
6) Mr Rajoana was awarded the death sentence for the assassination of Beant Singh in 2007 by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court. Another terrorist, Jagtar Singh Hawara, was also given the death sentence. Mr Hawara has been described as the mastermind of the murder. In October 2010, the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the death sentence for Mr Rajoana but reduced Mr Hawara's sentence to life imprisonment.
7) Beant Singh who was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1992 to 1995 was largely credited with wiping out terrorism from Punjab. He was assassinated by a human bomb, Dilawar Singh, at the high security Punjab civil secretariat in Chandigarh in August 1995. Mr Rajoana was to serve as a back-up human bomb.
8) The assassinated Chief Minister's family has also stated that it has forgiven Mr Rajoana and would like his death sentence be converted to life imprisonment.
9) The Punjab government has already sought para-military forces from the Centre as a precautionary measure, officials said.
10) The BJP, which shares power with SAD in the state, has steered clear of the controversy saying the matter is sub judice. "It is for the courts to decide and nobody has a right to interfere," Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma had said.
1) The petition seeking deferment of Mr Rajoana's hanging has been filed by the superintendent of Patiala central jail. Authorities at this jail have been asked by the court to execute Mr Rajoana on March 31, Saturday. But last week, the jail officials returned the death warrant issued by the court.
2) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said in the Assembly yesterday that Mr Rajoana cannot be executed on Saturday. "After looking into the all legal aspects of the case minutely, the jail superintendent of the Central Jail in Patiala is of the view that since this case has many legal and constitutional shortcomings, loopholes and flaws, the execution of the court order is impossible within the ambit of law," the Chief Minister said.
3) His announcement came on a day when the Shiromani Gurdwara Pharbandhak Committee or SGPC, which functions as a parliament of Sikhs, sent a mercy petition to President Pratibha Patil. It allegedly cites 11 other similar cases where the death sentence was commuted.
4) The Sikh clergy has said the state government must fight to save Mr Rajoana. The Akal Takht, which is the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, has conferred the title of zinda shaheed or living martyr conferred on him by Sikh high priests. Mr Rajoana has said he does not want this title.
5) Mr Rajoana, who has been convicted for being a Babbar Khalsa terrorist, has refused to defend himself in any court saying he wants to die for "the cause of Khalistan" (a separate Sikh homeland).
6) Mr Rajoana was awarded the death sentence for the assassination of Beant Singh in 2007 by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court. Another terrorist, Jagtar Singh Hawara, was also given the death sentence. Mr Hawara has been described as the mastermind of the murder. In October 2010, the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the death sentence for Mr Rajoana but reduced Mr Hawara's sentence to life imprisonment.
7) Beant Singh who was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1992 to 1995 was largely credited with wiping out terrorism from Punjab. He was assassinated by a human bomb, Dilawar Singh, at the high security Punjab civil secretariat in Chandigarh in August 1995. Mr Rajoana was to serve as a back-up human bomb.
8) The assassinated Chief Minister's family has also stated that it has forgiven Mr Rajoana and would like his death sentence be converted to life imprisonment.
9) The Punjab government has already sought para-military forces from the Centre as a precautionary measure, officials said.
10) The BJP, which shares power with SAD in the state, has steered clear of the controversy saying the matter is sub judice. "It is for the courts to decide and nobody has a right to interfere," Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma had said.
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