North News
New Delhi, November 18
The Supreme Court urged President Droupadi Murmu to decide within two weeks on the long-pending mercy petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana, sentenced to death for his role in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. The apex court said that it would consider Rajoana’s plea for temporary release if no decision is made before the next hearing on December 5.
Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was convicted in the bomb blast outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh that killed Beant Singh and 16 others. Sentenced to death in 2007, he has spent 28 years in prison. His mercy plea, filed in 2012 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), remains unresolved.
