Supreme Court directs Center to take decision in 2 months on Balwant Singh Rajoana’s appeal to reduce sentence

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Central Government Balwant Singh Rajoana (Balwant Singh Rajoana) directed to take a decision within two months on the petition, in which he directed former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh (Balwant Singh)Beant Singh) to commute the death sentence awarded to himself in the 1995 murder case to life imprisonment on the ground of nearly 26 years in jail.

A bench headed by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit said the pendency of appeals of other co-convicts in the matter in the apex court would not come in the way of deciding on Rajoana’s plea.

Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was convicted of his involvement in an explosion outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat on 31 August 1995. Beant Singh and 16 others were killed in the blast. The Supreme Court is hearing Rajoana’s plea seeking commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground that he has been in jail for 26 years. In July 2007, a special court sentenced Rajoana to death in the Beant Singh murder case.