PATIALA: A delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)
met Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday, seeking an early decision on the clemency petition of former CM Beant Singh assassin
Balwant Singh Rajoana.
SAD MP Prem Singh Chandumajra said the minister gave them an assurance that he would go through all reports related to Rajoana’s case and would have the matter expedited. Speaking over the phone from Delhi, Chandumajra said they sought an early decision on SGPC’s petition for commuting of Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment.
The delegation also comprised SAD general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Rajya Sabha member Balwinder Singh Bhunder, and former MP Tarlochan Singh. They were accompanied by SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal.
Chandumajra said they informed Rajnath that when Rajoana was to be hanged inside the
Patiala central jail in 2012, the situation in Punjab had become quite tense. He said they told the minister that intelligence reports suggested that hanging Rajoana could lead to law and order problems in the state, following which the SGPC filed a clemency petition with the President. He added that SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal met the Centre and got his execution stayed just two days ahead of the scheduled hanging.
Chandumajra said in case Rajoana was put on death row again after the dismissal of his clemency petition, a similar situation could arise in Punjab.
Reacting to the statement given by Congress MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu, who is also the grandson of the former CM assassinated in 1995, Chandumajra said when his party president,
Sonia Gandhi, had forgiven the killers of former PM Rajiv Gandhi, he should also follow suit.
Replying to Bittu's comment that SAD was supporting a separatist, the Akali MP asked if the Gandhi family had also become separatists by forgiving the killers of Rajiv Gandhi.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh (File photo)
