The Sikhs are so used to be­ing cheated by the gov­ern­ment of In­dia that In­dia rev­els in so do­ing, time and again, even if it is the aus­pi­cious oc­ca­sion of the 550 years of Guru Nanak or the life of a death-row con­vict. The pre­var­i­ca­tion of the gov­ern­ment of In­dia in the case of Bal­want Singh Ra­joana’s death sen­tence com­mu­ta­tion reached its peak yes­ter­day when the In­dian Home Min­is­ter -Amit Shah while re­ply­ing to a ques­tion in Par­lia­ment cat­e­gor­i­cally stated that ‘no par­don has been granted and please do not be mis­led by me­dia.’

BAL­WANT SINGH RA­JOANA DIES EVERY DAY as his life hangs by a thread with the In­dian gov­ern­ment play­ing ping-pong with his life. Lodged in the Pa­tiala Cen­tral Jail since 24 years, he is the only Sikh pris­oner on the death row, whose death sen­tence was an­nounced to be com­muted on 30 Sep­tem­ber 2019 by the In­dian Home Min­istry and now due to an un­clear, un­sched­uled an­swer to an un­listed ques­tion dur­ing Ques­tion hour yes­ter­day in the In­dian Par­lia­ment, the In­dian Home Min­is­ter Amit Shah said, “do not be mis­led by me­dia re­ports, there is no par­don.”

Af­ter be­fool­ing the Sikhs, rub­bing salt on the wounds of fam­i­lies of the pris­on­ers and gain­ing pos­i­tive pub­lic­ity in the me­dia that such a com­mu­ta­tion was about to hap­pen, the BJP gov­ern­ment has back­tracked with­out ex­pla­na­tion.

Bal­want Singh Ra­jaona, as is his wont, con­tin­ues to dis­play ex­em­plary joi de vivre –Chardikala -for some­one on the death row for long. His let­ters, his out­pour­ings dur­ing court hear­ings are an in­di­ca­tion that he is not over­awed by the pre­var­i­ca­tion of the pow­ers that be.  

What the Home Min­is­ter has not clar­i­fied is that there never was a ques­tion of par­don, it was only the an­nounce­ment of com­mu­ta­tion made by his min­istry on 30 Sep­tem­ber 2019, os­ten­si­bly as a con­ces­sion to Sikhs on the oc­ca­sion of 550 years of Guru Nanak’s birth an­niver­sary. By giv­ing an in­com­plete an­swer, the Home Min­is­ter has con­founded the is­sue.

Bal­want Singh Ra­jaona, as is his wont, con­tin­ues to dis­play ex­em­plary joi de vivre –Chardikala –for some­one on the death row for long. His let­ters, his out­pour­ings dur­ing court hear­ings are an in­di­ca­tion that he is not over­awed by the pre­var­i­ca­tion of the pow­ers that be in his case.

For­mer po­lice con­sta­ble Bal­want Singh Ra­joana along with Jag­tar Singh Hawara and oth­ers was awarded the death penalty in the case of the as­sas­si­na­tion of for­mer Pun­jab chief min­is­ter Beant Singh in 1995. Sig­nif­i­cantly, through­out the trial and right up to the Supreme Court, Ra­jaona did not plead his case.  Also, all other ac­cused’s death sen­tence has been com­muted into life im­pris­on­ment.

Notwith­stand­ing the rather loose han­dling of the case by the In­dian gov­ern­ment, Sikhs will rally be­hind Bal­want Singh Ra­joana.  Not know­ing where to look, Bhar­tiya Janata Par­ty’s ally in Pun­jab -the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Badal, which at one time spear­headed a full-scale cam­paign in Ra­joana’s favour, now in the words of party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, feels ‘sad at the an­nounce­ment made by Amit Shah.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why did the state is­sue or­der on 30 Sep­tem­ber for com­mu­ta­tion of Ra­joana’s death sen­tence? Was the un­der-sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of Home Af­fairs of the gov­ern­ment of In­dia test­ing wa­ters for the gov­ern­ment or was the gov­ern­ment of In­dia tak­ing Sikhs for a ride on the holy oc­ca­sion of 550 years of Guru Nanak’s birth an­niver­sary? If the Home Min­is­ter’s re­ply on the floor of the Par­lia­ment was in­ad­e­quate, why has the Home Min­istry not clar­i­fied? Why is the state of Pun­jab also silent on the mat­ter?

Those in the Con­gress party bay­ing for Ra­joana’s blood have not ap­pre­ci­ated the fact that he was ar­rested in 1995 and awarded the death penalty in July 2007. It took an­other 5 years for the sys­tem to an­nounce his hang­ing on 31 March 2012. The noose was off-the-hook on 28 March 2012 upon mercy pe­ti­tion by SGPC. Since then, 7 years have passed. How long can he serve on the death row fear­ing that he will go to the gal­lows the next day?

It is clear to Bal­want Singh Ra­joana, his fam­ily and to the Sikh world that whether it is con­do­na­tion of the sen­tence or its com­mu­ta­tion, the In­dian state has a duty to­wards an in­di­vid­ual on the death-row for long and it is not a con­ces­sion for which the en­tire com­mu­nity can be be­fooled or even taken for granted.

In an at­tempt to win over the good­will of the Sikhs, on the oc­ca­sion of the 550^th year of Guru Nanak’s birth an­niver­sary, the Naren­dra Modi-led BJP gov­ern­ment an­nounced re­mis­sion for cer­tain pris­on­ers, ei­ther on the death row or who have served long sen­tences be­yond their terms.  No com­mu­ta­tion. No re­lease. Will some­one be re­leased? Will Ra­joana’s sen­tence be com­muted? The si­lence is killing.

It is clear to Bal­want Singh Ra­joana, his fam­ily and to the Sikh world that whether it is con­do­na­tion of the death sen­tence or its com­mu­ta­tion, the In­dian state has a duty to­wards an in­di­vid­ual for long on the death-row and the re­mis­sion is not a con­ces­sion for which the en­tire com­mu­nity can be be­fooled or even taken for granted.