Amit Shah in Lok Sabha says no pardon for Rajoana

Chandigarh: Union home minister Amit Shah’s told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, has not been pardoned.

Shah’s statement has come as a setback for BJP’s ally in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and has also attracted criticism from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal as well as the SGPC’s president Gobind Singh Longowal said they felt “aggrieved” and would be soon meeting the Prime Minister as well as the Union home minister, seeking reversal of the decision and due reprieve to Rajoana. At the same time, Shah’s statement has also created confusion among many.

Responding to Ludhiana Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, also is Beant Singh’s grandson, during the Question Hour in the Lower House, Shah said, “Aap please media report par na jaiye, koi maafi ki nahi gai (Please don’t go by media reports, no pardon has been given).”

Bittu had asked the Union home minister, “Amit Shah ji please mera jawab deejiye. Aap ne Punjab valon ko keon (sic) Balwant Singh Rajoana ko fansi maaf ki ha?”

Advocate Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, who had been pursuing Rajoana’s case, said maafi means pardon and not commutation. He said Shah was saying that Rajoana has not been pardoned which means his sentence has been commuted. The counsel explained, “If a convict is granted pardon, he is immediately released from the prison. But if Rajoana’s death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment, he would not come out of jail automatically and would have to apply for parole,” he reasoned.

On November 14, TOI had reported that the Union home ministry had written to Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka and Delhi on September 27 that to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, “the Government of India has decided that 8 Sikh prisoners may be granted special remission and death sentence of one Sikh prisoner may be commuted to life imprisonment.” Rajoana is the only Sikh prisoner who has been awarded death sentence.

Shah’s statement led to a lot of criticism in Punjab. The state government was silent on the issue, but BJP ally and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “We all feel aggrieved today. We thought we had moved ahead when news statements appeared last month disclosing that the death sentence of Rajoana had been commuted. However, today’s assertion has shocked everyone. There is a feeling of hurt that justice has not been done to the Sikh community and the spirit of the clemency which was espoused on the occasion of the 550th Parkash Purb has not been carried through.”

Later in the day, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal held a press conference at Chandigarh and urged the Union home minister to consider all the facts of the case and give a reprieve to Rajoana, adding that this was also in keeping with the sentiments of the Sikh community.

Longowal said that even the Punjab legislative assembly had earlier passed a resolution unanimously seeking commutation of Rajoana’s death sentence into life imprisonment. He said the SGPC would continue its fight to ensure the humane relief due to Rajoana was implemented in letter and spirit.

Rajoana’s sister Kamaljeet Kaur said that by going back on its decision to commute her brother’s death sentence, the central government had hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community — that too during the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

She said the media reports in September about the Union home ministry’s decision to commute the death sentence had not only brought a ray of hope to the family but also to the whole Sikh community.


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