SAD to provide legal aid to Balwant Singh Rajoana's family

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday said that the commutation of the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana into life term was part of a process aimed at bringing closure to the festering wounds of the Sikh community.

Maheshinder Singh Grewal in a statement said that it was unfortunate that instead of showing tolerance and compassion towards Rajoana as well as the sentiments of Akal Takht and the Sikh Sangat, an attempt was being made by certain Congress leaders to recreate tension and fissures in civil society by opposing the move in the court of law.

"The SAD is against such naked attempts aimed at striking at the core of peace and communal harmony and will provide all needed legal aid to the family of Rajoana to fight these insidious designs to reverse the humane relief given to Rajoana," Grewal said.

Grewal said the SAD and SGPC had always opposed the death penalty on a matter of principle and continued to do so. "We have waged a long struggle to create consensus on this issue and this included approaching the Union government and well as the President of India on several occasions under the leadership of S Parkash Singh Badal. The decision to release eight Sikh prisoners who had already their full term and commute the death sentence of Rajoana into life-imprisonment is a direct fall out of the concerted efforts of the SAD and SGPC on this issue," Grewal said.

Rajoana is a convict in Beant Singh's assassination case.

On Sunday, the Union Home Ministry had approved the commutation of Rajaona's death sentence to life imprisonment as a humanitarian gesture on the 550th Prakash Purb of Sri Guru Nanak Dev.

On August 31, 1995, 17 people, including the then chief minister Beant Singh, were killed in an explosion outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh.