Mon Nov 25 08:55:09 UTC 2024: ## Supreme Court Grants Govt. Four Weeks to Decide on Rajoana’s Mercy Plea
**NEW DELHI** – The Supreme Court of India has given the central government four weeks to decide on the long-pending mercy plea of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a Babbar Khalsa supporter convicted in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. The court granted the extension after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the sensitivity of the issue and the current situation require further consultation with various agencies.
Rajoana, a former Punjab police constable, was sentenced to death in 2007 for his role as a backup attacker in the suicide bombing outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. The bombing killed Beant Singh and 16 others. His death sentence was upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2010. While initially scheduled for execution in 2012, it was stayed after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) filed a mercy petition on his behalf.
The government has repeatedly delayed a decision on the plea, citing national security concerns and the sensitive political climate in Punjab. In 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) even proposed commuting Rajoana’s sentence as a goodwill gesture on the occasion of Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary. However, no final decision has been made. The Supreme Court’s four-week extension indicates that the government is still deliberating on the matter.
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