The Punjab and Haryana high court dismissed a petition filed seeking commuting death sentence to Balwant Singh Rajoana for killing former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. The petition was filed by Rajoana sister, Kamaldeep Kaur.
Kaur’s lawyer Gursharan Kaur Mann said the petition has been dismissed on “maintainability” by court observing that Rajoana, himself can file petition. Detailed order is awaited..
The petition was filed in October 2017 stating that he had been behind bars for the past 22 years. He neither sought legal aid, nor challenged his conviction. Hence, his death sentence be commuted to life term, Mann had argued.
He was sentenced to death by a Chandigarh court in 2007.
The sentence was later confirmed by the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2010. The Centre, however, stayed his hanging two days before the execution on March 31, 2012, after the President referred the matter to the Union home ministry following the SGPC petition. The matter is pending since then.
