Chandigarh: The family of slain Punjab chief
minister Beant Singh on Sunday favoured clemency for Balwant Singh
Rajoana who is on death row for the 1995 killing of the
Congress leader.
"To maintain peace and to end the vicious cycle of
bitterness, Rajoana`s death sentence should be commuted," said
Gurkanwal Kaur, a former minister and daughter of Beant Singh.
She said it was her personal opinion that Rajoana "should
be pardoned on humanitarian grounds. It will be a very good
thing".
Beant`s grandson and Congress MLA Gurkirat Singh Kotli had
said that "the family has no objection to Rajoana being
granted clemency".
"Our concern is that the hard-earned peace in Punjab
should not be disturbed," he had said.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Amarinder
Singh appreciated and endorsed the stand taken by Beant`s
family.
"Sardar Beant Singh gave his life for peace in Punjab and
the members of his family today are united in their belief
that peace must be maintained in the state at all costs," he
said.
Rajoana is scheduled to be hanged in Patiala Central Jail
on March 31.
On August 31, 1995 as Beant Singh stepped out of his
office at the high-security Punjab civil secretariat in
Chandigarh, a suicide bomber, Dilawar Singh, blew himself up,
killing the then CM.
Rajoana was the second human bomb to be used in case
Dilawar had failed in his mission.
PTI
