By Martin Shwenk Leade

Copyright indiatimes

The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the Centre over the delay in hanging Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is facing death sentence for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.Rajoana has moved the SC seeking commutation of his death sentence to life on the grounds of the delay in considering the mercy petition pending before the President of India since 2012.Rajoana, a former police officer in Punjab, was convicted on July 27, 2007, by a special CBI court under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Explosives Substances Act, 1908, for an incident involving a suicide bombing at the Chandigarh secretariat complex on August 31, 1995, in which Beant Singh along with 16 others, lost their lives.Appearing on behalf of the accused, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted before a bench, comprising justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria, that Rajoana has been incarcerated for more than 29 years. Rohatgi argued that the Centre keeps referring to the security of the nation as the reason for not deciding the case and questioned how one person’s release would impact the security of the nation.The counsel for the Centre countered the argument stating that this was a serious issue. On this, justice Mehta verbally told the counsel for the Centre: “The question is why did you not hang him till now? Who is to be blamed for that? At least we would not have stayed his execution.”Live EventsIn the last order passed on this petition in January this year, a special bench headed by CJI BR Gavai had given one last opportunity to the Centre to decide his mercy plea. The SC had held that if the Centre failed to do so, the plea would be finally decided by the court. The plea will come up for resumed hearing on October 15.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!
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( Originally published on Sep 24, 2025 )

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