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On Friday, the Supreme Court has asked the Central Government to submit recommendations on the mercy plea of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana to the President by January the 25th. The bench was headed by CJI SA Bobde. The bench commented this while they were hearing a writ petition by Balwant Singh. The writ petition sought commutation of his death penalty on the grounds that his mercy petition has been pending for 8 years.
Balwant Singh Rajoana was sentenced for the murder of Beant Singh, former Punjab chief minister in a bomb blast. Mukul Rohatgi, a senior advocate appearing on behalf of Rajoana submitted that he has been in custody for nearly 25 years and his mercy plea submitted to the President has been pending for 8 years. It is due to these circumstances that the petitioner is allowed to have his death penalty commutated. This is according to the Supreme Court's decisions in Shatrughan Chauhan & Anr vs Union Of India and Union Of India vs V. Sriharan.
Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj appearing on behalf of the Union Government submitted that the mercy plea was being processed and has been submitted before the satisfactory authority. Giving these reasons he sought an adjournment. Rohatgi stated that the Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj's submissions were not relevant as Balwant Singh was entitled to commutation based on the delay in considering his mercy plea. The CJI stated that a few more weeks would not make that much difference and stated that 26Th January would be a better day to take a decision.
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