The Supreme Court is scrutinizing the significant delay in the execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. His senior counsel has voiced serious concerns regarding Rajoana’s mental state, suggesting he may be suffering from the ‘death row phenomenon’ – a severe psychological trauma caused by an extended wait for execution.
“I don’t know if he is in his senses,” Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi informed a Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
Rajoana has endured three decades in prison, with twelve years spent in solitary confinement, and has been on death row since 2007.
Justice Mehta critically questioned the prolonged delay, asking, “Who is to be blamed for that?”
The case was last heard in early 2025, at which point the Supreme Court had pressed the Union government to make a definitive decision on Rajoana’s mercy petition. The court had indicated that failure to do so would leave it no alternative but to rule on his plea for commutation of the death penalty on its own merits.
Mr. Rohatgi invoked the Supreme Court’s landmark Shatrughan Chauhan judgment. This ruling acknowledged the ‘death row phenomenon’ and the profound psychological and physical toll that extended execution delays inflict on condemned prisoners, deeming it a valid ground for commuting a death sentence.
The senior counsel forcefully argued that the agonizing uncertainty surrounding Rajoana’s death penalty constituted an act of “sheer cruelty.”
During previous hearings, the Union government emphasized the extreme sensitivity of the matter, given Rajoana’s conviction for assassinating a former Chief Minister. They stated that the mercy plea file was with the Union Home Ministry, not the President, as of November 2024, and had previously cited national security concerns due to alleged involvement of Khalistani elements in the assassination.
It is noteworthy that in May 2023, the Supreme Court had deemed it inappropriate to compel the Union government to commute Rajoana’s death penalty, especially after the Home Ministry concluded that such a decision could jeopardize national security.
Justice Nath, a current member of the bench, was also part of the three-judge Supreme Court bench that delivered the 2023 judgment.