Supreme Court gives Centre 2 weeks to respond on Balwant Singh Rajoana’s mercy plea
Babushahi Bureau
New Delhi, April 22, 2026: The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday directed the Centre to file its response within two weeks on a plea seeking commutation of death sentence awarded to Balwant Singh Rajoana to life imprisonment.
A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi expressed concern over the delay in responding to the mercy petition, which has remained pending for several years. The court made it clear that no further adjournments would be granted and asked the Centre to place its stand on record.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, highlighted that the mercy petition filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in March 2012 is still awaiting a decision. He argued that the prolonged delay has caused severe mental distress to the convict and forms valid grounds for seeking commutation.
Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, has been in prison for over 29 years in connection with the 1995 assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. The blast outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh had claimed 17 lives.
He was sentenced to death by a special court in 2007. While the Supreme Court had earlier declined to commute his sentence in 2023, it later agreed to re-examine the issue in 2024 due to the continued delay in deciding his mercy plea.
The Centre, in earlier submissions, had cited legal and security concerns for deferring a decision, including the fact that the mercy petition was not filed directly by Rajoana and that related cases were still under consideration.
The apex court has repeatedly urged the government to take a timely decision, warning that prolonged inaction could not be justified indefinitely. The matter is now expected to be taken up again after the Centre files its affidavit.