Patiala, September 17, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Death-row prisoner Balwant Singh Rajoana, lodged in Patiala Central Jail in connection with the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, has written a five-page letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an early and final decision on his long-pending mercy petition.
Rajoana, in the letter written on September 16, has urged the Union government not to delay the matter any further and to decide his mercy plea even if the eventual decision is to uphold his death sentence.
According to information available, Rajoana has pointed out that he has remained incarcerated for around three decades and has been awaiting finality over his death sentence for years.
He has questioned why the government has not been able to take a decision despite the passage of such a long period.
Rajoana has claimed in his letter that the matter concerning his death sentence has remained pending with the Union government for nearly 15 years.
His central contention in the five-page communication is that the government should bring the prolonged uncertainty to an end by taking a final decision on the mercy petition.
Rajoana is facing the death sentence in the case relating to the August 31, 1995 assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in a bomb explosion outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh.
The latest communication to the Prime Minister comes amid the prolonged legal and administrative proceedings surrounding Rajoana’s mercy plea and the question of commutation of his death sentence.
By stating that a decision should be taken even if it goes against him, Rajoana has sought to focus attention on the prolonged pendency of the matter rather than the nature of the eventual outcome.
FOLLOW NOW
