Weeks after Punjab sailed through an assembly election, largely free of religious agendas and identity politics, the impending hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana, sentenced to death for the assassination of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, is fast assuming political overtones. The subtext is the hurt it might cause to Sikh sentiments.
In 2007, a trial court had sentenced Rajoana and Jagtar Singh Hawara to death for the August 31, 1995, assassination of Beant Singh. Hawara was named the mastermind and Rajoana, who pleaded guilty, was the “back-up human bomb”. Recently, an additional sessions judge in Chandigarh ordered Rajoana’s execution on March 31. Beant Singh and many others had died in a blast when Hawara’s friend and co-conspirator, Dilawar Singh, blew himself up just outside the heavily guarded state civil secretariat. Hawara appealed, and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. But Rajoana has all along refused to appeal or seek clemency. He wants “to die a martyr”.
But the Sikh clergy and the Shiromani Akali Dal-led Punjab government has other ideas. The Akal Takht, the apex Sikh body, at a reunion attended by jathedars of all major Sikh takhts, has called a meeting of all panthic groups and organisations to discuss the issue. It has also asked Sikh organisations to consult lawyers and suggest ways to deal with this case. Giani Gurbachan Singh, a jathedar of the Akal Takht, who met Rajoana a few days ago, says, “Sikhs the world over were proud of the sacrifice made by Rajoana. If the death penalty is carried out, it will hurt the feelings of the community and reinforce the discrimination against Sikhs.”
On the other hand, the Patiala jail authorities, where Rajoana is lodged, have returned the execution order to the Chandigarh court, expressing their inability to hang him. Their plea is that since the assassination and the trial took place in Chandigarh, a Union Territory, he cannot be hanged in a Punjab jail. (Rajoana has been in the Patiala jail since November 2010 in connection with another case involving the possession of about 12 kg RDX.) They also say the jail does not have a hangman, and, according to some reports, the jail superintendent has refused to conduct the execution.
Rajoana, however, is contemptuous of the “Punjab government playing politics” over his hanging. He said so in a recent letter to his sister Kamaljeet Kaur, in which he admitted that he had conspired to kill Beant Singh. He also said he is prepared to be hanged on March 31 without any delay and has pledged to donate his body to the Akal Takht.
There are some Sikhs who think Rajoana should be allowed to sacrifice his life. Prof Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon, a scholar who wrote the SGPC’s “white paper on Operation Bluestar”, told Outlook, “The institution of martyrdom has a special significance in Sikhism. Unlike other religions, the martyr does not expect to get a grand afterlife, but does so only in pursuit of the truth of God. Rajoana appears to be very close to that ideal.” Accusing the jathedars and political parties of “undermining his sacrifice”, he says, “His wish should be fulfilled by hanging him. They are unable to understand the sublime spirituality which is driving him.”
Rajoana has also criticised his associate Hawara for putting in a mercy plea. “He is begging for his life. He should not have done that. When we executed the plan for Beant Singh’s death, we did not have faith in the Indian judiciary since it had done nothing to book the perpetrators of the 1984 Sikh riots,” he reportedly told Giani Gurbachan Singh.
Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal has been circumspect over the issue and has argued that since the killing had taken place in Chandigarh, the decision to execute Rajoana must be taken by the UT administration. But Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of late Beant Singh and a Congress MP from Anandpur, has demanded that the Punjab government should make its stand clear. “Rajoana had never sought pardon and the court’s order to execute him should be allowed. I fail to understand why the government is confused,” he said.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Human Rights, a voluntary group, have petitioned the Punjab & Haryana High court, seeking a stay on Rajoana’s execution on March 31st. The last word on the matter is yet to be heard.
