Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday urged the Union Government to set Balwant Singh Rajowana, convicted in the Beant Singh asassinaton case,  free to put a decisive end to his unending incarceration.

“This humanitarian gesture would be in conformation with civilized values and justice as Bhai Rajoana had already served more than the effective equivalent of  a life sentence,” Sukhbir said in a statement.

Badal called upon both the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind to personally expedite this gesture as “a  fulfillment of a  national commitment made to Punjabis in general and the Sikh quom in particular by the Government of India. The Government of India is already on record having committed to commute Bhi Rajoana’s death sentence into life imprisonment. This commitment was made as a special gesture to the Sikh quom on the eve of the 550th  Parkash Utsav of Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji”.

He said, “In view of this commitment, there is no rationale behind keeping Bhai  Rajoana behind bars for even a single day more as he has already suffered incarceration in prison for  over 26 years – much longer than the effective duration of a life term. His death sentence was changed to life imprisonment and Bhai Rajoana has served nearly twice as much time as a normal lifer’s term of ten to fourteen years.

In March 2012, Sukhbir Badal had spearheaded the Akali government’s strong resistance against the judicial orders to hang Rajoana. The Akali BJP government headed by Parkash Singh Badal had refused to carry out those orders, using all political and legal options to thwart the execution orders. 

The then CM, Parkash Singh Badal and  Sukhbir Singh Badal had also met the then President of India Pratibha Patil seeking a presidential intervention on the basis of a plea filed by the SGPC. Later, the SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal also led a delegation of SGPC and SAD leaders to the then-home minister Rajnath Singh to plead for an end to Rajoana’s incarceration.