The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to take a decision by March 18 on the mercy petition of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination case of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
"We are granting you time by way of a last chance. Either you take a decision or otherwise we will hear it on merits," a bench of Justices B R Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Viswanathan told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre.
The bench was hearing Rajoana's plea seeking directions to commute his death sentence to life term due to the "inordinate delay" in deciding his mercy plea.
Mehta referred to the sensitivity involved in the matter and said the mercy petition was under consideration.
"It is a murder of a sitting chief minister in a terror attack. It is serious and has ramifications," Mehta said and requested six weeks time.
Rajoana's counsel said while his client spent about 29 years in jail, he spent over 15 years on death row.
"We will hear it on merits on March 18," the bench said, "by then if you can take a decision, well and good. Either way you decide it so that it could facilitate us. Otherwise we will hear it (plea seeking directions to commute death sentence) on merits." When Rajoana's counsel said he should be granted some relief and be released as the mercy petition was pending since long, Mehta said, "That is precisely the problem. Should he come back in the society?" The bench observed in many cases, the apex court had imposed the sentence of imprisonment till actual death.
"We will hear you. We will give them some time," said the bench.
On November 25 last year, the Centre informed the apex court that there was sensitivity involved in the matter related to the mercy petition of Rajoana.
While hearing the petition on November 18 last year, the apex court put on hold its order asking President Droupadi Murmu's secretary to place before her the mercy petition of Rajoana for consideration.
After the order was passed in the morning on November 18, 2024, the solicitor general urged the bench that it should not be given effect as there were "sensitivities" involved in the issue.
Mehta said the file was with the home ministry and not the President.
On September 25 last year, the top court sought responses from the Centre, the Punjab government and the administration of the Union Territory of Chandigarh on Rajoana's plea.
The former Punjab chief minister and 16 others were killed in a blast at the entrance of the civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. A special court sentenced Rajoana to death in July, 2007.
Rajoana's plea, among other things, sought a direction for his release.
On May 3, 2023, the apex court refused to commute his death sentence and said the competent authority could deal with his mercy plea.
In his fresh plea, Rajoana highlighted having undergone 28.8 years in jail, of which he spent 17 years as a death row convict.
He said in March 2012, a mercy petition under Article 72 of the Constitution was preferred by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee seeking clemency on his behalf.
The plea said over a year had elapsed after the top court directed the competent authority, in due course of time, to deal with the mercy petition filed on his behalf and take further decision.
It referred to an April 2023 order of the top court in a separate matter in which the court directed all the states and appropriate authorities to decide the pending mercy petitions at the earliest and without any inordinate delay.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
