After Supreme Court order, now Government of India should fulfill its responsibility

Amritsar, May 3 – Reacting to the Supreme Court order in the case of Balwant Singh Rajoana, imprisoned in jail for the last 28 years, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) President Harjinder Singh Dhami has said that now it is the responsibility of the Centre government to commute the sentence and announce release Bhai Rajoana.

In a statement issued here Dhami  said that the Supreme Court has directed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to take a decision in Bhai Rajoana’s case; therefore, the government should take action. Hei said that the Government of India has already issued a notification regarding the commutation of Rajoana’s sentence on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in 2019, in view of which the government should take an immediate decision. By implementing this notification of 2019, the government should also decide to release Rajoana, as he has served more than life imprisonment and was deprived of parole during his imprisonment in jail.

SGPC President said that the Sikh leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should also put pressure on the government regarding the case of Bhai Rajoana. This is a testing time for the Sikh leaders in BJP, he said.

He said that the case of Rajoana was also time for Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, to fulfill his responsibility. “Since the responsibility of the National Commission for Minorities is to ensure that the rights and interests of the minority communities are protected, therefore, Iqbal Singh Lalpura was answerable”, he said.

SGPC President said that human rights are being violated in the cases of Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners), due to which there is a lot of resentment in the Sikh community.