SGPC has stepped up its campaign to free former Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassins and other “Bandi Singhs,” at a time when Balwant Singh Rajoana, a death row inmate convicted of Singh’s assassination, has asked the SGPC to rescind his mercy petition.

A seven-member delegation of the SGPC, led by its president Harjinder Singh Dhami, left the Akal Takht today after doing ardas and headed to the Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh. The members of the delegation were carrying bundles of signed paperwork atop their heads.

On December 1, 2022, the SGPC launched a signature campaign to free the prisoners. The petition calling for the release of nine “Bandi Singhs” who have served their time and are still being held in jail was signed by about 26 lakh Sikhs worldwide by April.

Despite the fact that the bundles of forms from Amritsar to Chandigarh have been transported, the Raj Bhawan would not permit them to enter because of security concerns.

But the forms were uploaded in digital format, and the Governor received a pen drive containing a demand letter addressed to the President, Droupadi Murmu.

The names of Rajoana, Lakhwinder Singh Lakha, Jagtar Singh Hawara, Gurdeep Singh Khera, Jagpal Singh Bhullar, Gurmeet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Paramjit Singh Bheora, and Jagtar Singh Tara were all listed in the letter.

A letter purportedly written by Rajoana and addressed to the Akal Takht Jathedar was revealed by her sister Kamaldeep Kaur a week ago.

The letter requested that the Jathedar order the SGPC to withdraw the mercy petition, which had been pending for the previous twelve years. In the event that the petition was not withdrawn, Rajoana had threatened to go on a hunger strike.

Members of the SGPC general house, according to Dhami, have shown support for Rajoana.
“Rajoana has been lodged in 8×8 feet cell for the past 17 years. On the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019, the Centre has issued a notification to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment, but it could not materialise,” Dhami said.

Regarding the matter of attempted distortion in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 by the state government, Dhami said it was an unlawful move. The Governor’s intervention was sought as the government had in a sense acted beyond its powers by interfering in the legislation.