The process to commute the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted for killing former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, was “underway,” a senior Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official said on Monday.
The MHA said it had taken in principle decision to commute Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment and the decision will soon be conveyed to the President of India, the final authority.
However, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the State government was yet to receive any communication from the MHA, adding that Centre had taken an independent decision on the release of the prisoners.
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Captain Amarinder said the MHA had earlier sought a list of all Sikh prisoners serving sentences under the repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).
“Rajoana was in the list of the 17 submitted by the State government to the Centre as he was a TADA prisoner who had completed more than 14 years in jail, like the other prisoners on the list,” the Chief Minister said.
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No role in decision
The State government had merely sent the list of all long-term TADA prisoners, and had no role in the Centre’s reported decision to release Beant Singh’s killer or any other particular prisoner, he clarified.
Captain Amarinder was responding responding to questions in Ludhiana on the Congress’ stand on reports suggesting that former chief minister Beant Singh’s killer, Rajoana, was among the eight prisoners that the Centre had decided to release, as a humanitarian gesture.
“The Congress’ stand on Beant Singh’s killers has always been clear and consistent — that they should serve their full sentence,” he said.
He, however, added that he was personally against the death penalty, a position he had stated in 2012 also. All cases of death penalty should be commuted to life imprisonment, he said.
The MHA said last week eight Sikh prisoners, lodged in different jails in the country for committing crimes during the militancy period in Punjab, would be released by the government as a goodwill gesture on the occasion of 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November.
It said that through a special remission, the death sentence of another Sikh prisoner has been commuted to life imprisonment. Rajoana is the only Sikh prisoner on death row in a militancy related case.
The names of the prisoners were not revealed by MHA then but Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa told The Hindu that he met Home Minister Amit Shah last week and pressed for commuting the death sentence of Rajoana, the only Sikh prisoner on death row in a militancy related case.