Rajoana case needs sensitive approach

Convicted for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, Babbar Khalsa International militant Balwant Singh Rajoana may be willing to face the gallows but indications are that he may not be hanged on March 31, the scheduled date fixed by a Chandigarh court as the entire process of law has not yet played itself out.

This is perhaps the first case of its kind in the country where an accused has throughout the trial refused to file an appeal against the verdict of death sentence. When a lower court awards death penalty to anyone under the law, the order has to be confirmed by the High Court. While Rajoana’s case reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court by default, he refused to contest the prosecution’s charges or use the services of a lawyer to fight his case. Indoctrinated by the ideology of Khalistan, which led to a bloodbath in Punjab not long ago, at every stage of the trial, he accepted that he killed the former chief minister.

The indoctrinated intention is clear. The militant wants hallow of martyrdom and keep alive the failed issue of Khalistan in public memory. He has partially succeeded as the Akal Takht has bestowed him the honour of being a “zinda shaheed” (live martyr).

In the absence of the accused contesting the charges of the prosecuting agency, in this case the CBI, Punjab and Haryana High Court confirmed the order passed by the lower court even though it had commuted the death sentence of fellow accused Jagtar Singh Hawara and converted it into life imprisonment.

It is here where the problem arises. In normal circumstances, after High Court the accused can approach the Supreme Court to get death sentence commuted and after that the President of the country can be approached for clemency. In Rajoana’s case, the entire process is yet to play out as even the High Court verdict upholding the death sentence, was made due to an ideologically motivated militant refusing to contest the charges. In the same case, his partner in the assassination has been saved from the gallows.

So there are still three stages of law to be completed before hanging takes place in the case of Rajoana – a proper appeal in the High Court, then the Supreme Court and finally an appeal to the President for clemency. But what does the higher judiciary do in a situation where the entire process of law is yet to exhaust but the accused wants to go to the gallows? There has to be an interpretation of law here as this is the first case of its kind and there is no precedent of a similar nature on which the judiciary can rely on.

There is another point of law which, I think, needs to be defined. It is settled that any confession made under police custody is not accepted as evidence in a court of law. This is because the statement could have been made under duress. However, if a statement is made due to ideological conditioning, irrespective of the merits of that ideology, there is no remedy as of now. We need the courts to define the aspect of ideological conditioning under which the statements of the condemned militant has been made so that there is no miscarriage of justice.

I think it is here that the Supreme Court has to intervene and define the law governing death sentence, particularly for a case of such a peculiar nature. I am not sure if the apex court ever faced such a situation where the accused awarded death penalty refuses to file an appeal. The court should consider Rajoana’s case and define the law again in such cases. This becomes important because there are several condemned prisoners living in jails whose mercy petition too has been rejected by the President while Rajoana has to avail of all the options made available by law.

Ironically, several organisations have sprung up for the defence of Rajoana now when the issue has snowballed into a political storm as the date of execution nears. No one in Punjab cared for Rajoana till the other day when a special court in Chandigarh sent the death warrants to central Jail Patiala where the condemned prisoner is lodged.

In fast paced developments which have acquired political overtones now, Giani Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar of the Akal Takht has directed Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to approach the President and the Prime Minister for clemency. The Sikh clergy have met Rajoana in Patiala jail earlier and took the views of religious and political leaders before issuing the hukumnama (diktat) to the CM and Deputy CM. The hardliners and pro-Khalistan elements have also come in the picture now. They met the Akal Takht Jathedar and have called for a Punjab bandh later this month but are not sure whether they want Rajoana to hang and keep alive the issue or want clemency for him.

A meeting of the core committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal has also been convened to discuss the issue and chalk out a strategy following the directive of the Jathedar of Akal Takht. Akali Dal had earlier asked the President to reconsider the decision to reject the mercy plea of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, convicted for a bomb blast in New Delhi which was aimed to kill Maninder Jit Singh Bitta but killed several security personnel and bystanders.

Bhullar issue did not ignite much debate as the incident took place in New Delhi and he is lodged in the Tihar Jail, away from Punjab. But Rajoana committed the crime in Chandigarh and is lodged in Patiala and the issue has revived the days of militancy from which Punjab could recover only after loss of thousands of lives.

There are indications that the Punjab government could approach the lower court which issued the death warrants or the High Court saying that there is no hangman in Punjab to do the job or may point out some other procedural issue to delay the hanging and buy some more time. It may even ask the Centre to impress upon the prosecuting agency CBI to file a plea in the court about the entire sequence of events in which co-accused Hawara has been spared the gallows but Rajoana faces death as he deliberately did not file an appeal.

My point is that when Punjab has become normal and is one of the only examples where militancy has been successfully defeated thoroughly; there should be no slip at this point of time. Nothing should be done to aggravate the situation. It should be tackled sensitively. Let the entire process of law play itself out in the process. Sometimes taking no decision is a decision in itself and perhaps Rajoana’s case fits the bill on that count. (March 25, 2012)

(The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh)

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