SAD welcomes commutation of Rajoana's death sentence

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday welcomed the Centre's decision to commute the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted for the 1995 assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, to life imprisonment.

The party said this "humanitarian gesture" on the occasion of 550th birth celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev would bring a closure to the "festering wounds" of the Sikh community.

Though the Centre had decided to commute Rajoana's death sentence to life imprisonment, and also released a group of Sikh prisoners, in September, the union Home Ministry had reportedly communicated this to the state government recently.

Rajoana, a former Punjab police constable, was convicted for his involvement in an explosion outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat that killed Beant Singh and 16 others in 1995.

In a statement issued here,SAD leader and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said the decision of commutation of death sentence would go a long way in assuaging the "hurt" feelings of the Sikh community who had to go through "unspeakable repression and humiliation during those dark days" when Punjab was pushed into terrorism.

"We are grateful to the Modi government for taking so many pro-Punjab and pro-Sikh decisions aimed at ending the feeling of alienation among the Sikhs," he added.

The Akali leader said the SAD and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) have always opposed the death penalty as a matter of principle and continued to do so.

"We have waged a long struggle to create consensus on this issue including approaching the Union government as well as the President of India on several occasions. The decision of releasing eight Sikh prisoners who had already served their full term and commuting the death sentence of Rajoana into life imprisonment is a direct result of the concerted efforts of the SAD and SGPC on this issue", said Cheema.