Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, has been on death row for 17 years. His plea noted that the Centre had not taken any action on his March 25, 2012, mercy petition.The prosecution had argued that Rajoana was involved in the 1995 assassination of Beant Singh, the former Punjab Chief Minister, and 16 others, who were killed in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995.Rajoana’s plea stated that the prolonged delay in deciding his mercy petition violated his fundamental rights. Rohatgi referenced the case of another death row convict, Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, and argued that the long delay in the petition should lead to a commutation of Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment.In response, Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj, representing the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), contended that Rajoana’s mercy petition could not be considered because it had been filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and not by Rajoana himself. Natraj argued that the mercy petition could not be decided until the appeals of the other convicts in the case were concluded.Although the Supreme Court had refused to commute Rajoana’s death sentence last year, it agreed on September 25, 2024, to re-examine the matter afresh.
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