Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in the 1995 assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, has formally requested the Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority of Sikhism, to act on his mercy plea. The appeal was made through a letter submitted to the Akal Takht secretariat in Amritsar on July 22, 2026, according to reports.
Rajoana has been on death row for over two decades, and his mercy petition has been pending before the President of India since 2012. In his letter, he urged the Sikh clergy to intervene and support his plea for commutation of the death sentence, citing his long incarceration and the lack of a final decision.
The Akal Takht has not yet issued a formal response to Rajoana's request. The development comes amid ongoing debates over the delay in capital punishment cases in India and the humanitarian aspects of prolonged death row detention.
Rajoana's case has been a subject of political and religious controversy, with various Sikh groups and human rights organizations calling for clemency. The Punjab government has previously recommended commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment, but the final decision rests with the President.
