Patiala: Death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana has written to the acting Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, urging the Sikh clergy to either get the SGPC’s mercy petition withdrawn immediately or summon Sikh leaders in the BJP to explain the prolonged delay in deciding it.In the letter, Rajoana said the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) should withdraw its plea seeking a stay on his execution or the Akal Takht should call prominent Sikh faces in the BJP, who invoke the legacy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s rule, to explain why a decision that was expected within six months has remained pending for well over a decade.Rajoana said he has spent 31 years in prison and will complete 19 years in the death cell (“phansi chakki”) this month. He said the Chandigarh sessions court issued his death warrant for March 31, 2012, and that he accepted the sentence without protest, leaving his fate entirely to the Akal Takht.He reiterated that he never personally approached the Akal Takht, the SGPC, the President or the Union home ministry seeking a stay on his execution, and urged the Takht to either free him from what he termed the “political conspiracies of those in power” or hold the current govt accountable for the delay.A former Punjab Police constable, Rajoana was convicted for his role in the assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh on Aug 31, 1995, and sentenced to death by a special CBI court in 2007. His execution, scheduled for March 2012, was stayed after the SGPC submitted a mercy petition to the President. In 2019, on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the Centre announced commutation of his sentence, but the notification has not been implemented, prompting repeated protests and appeals from Sikh organisations.
