AMRITSAR, May 18: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) announced it will not retract the mercy petition filed on behalf of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a death row inmate convicted in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
The decision came after a meeting of SGPC members and legal experts, where a unanimous view emerged that the petition should remain before the central government.
“All lawyers gave their view that the petition should not be withdrawn. We should see what the government’s stand is on it,” SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami told reporters on Saturday.
Rajoana, who has been incarcerated for over two decades, had earlier urged the SGPC to pull back the petition. However, the SGPC maintained that the legal course should be allowed to continue.
Dhami said the delay by successive central governments in taking a decision on the mercy plea was inappropriate and required attention.
“Taking no decision on the petition by the successive governments at the Centre was not right. This is a very serious matter and it is important to form an opinion on it,” he said.
The mercy plea, pending for years, seeks commutation of Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment.
