Patiala Central Jail

Patiala Central Jail is the prison in Punjab where Balwant Singh Rajoana is held. The Tribune reported in February 2023 that he was lodged there, and in December 2023 that he lived in a solitary barrack inside it. The jail enters Sikh history through the Bandi Singhs campaign for Sikhs jailed for cases from the 1980s and 1990s.

Key moments

• 31 August 1995: Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and others were killed in a blast outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh. Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was arrested in January 1996 (IANS).
• July 2007: a special court sentenced him to death. The High Court upheld the sentence on 12 October 2010, and he did not appeal (The News Mill).
• 28 March 2012: the Home Ministry stayed the hanging, set for 31 March, after the SGPC filed a mercy petition for him. He did not file it himself, which is why the Centre has argued it cannot be considered (IANS, The Tribune).
• 2019: ahead of Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary the Centre announced that his death sentence would be commuted to life; The Tribune dates the notification 11 October 2019. It has not been implemented. The same notification named Waryam Singh among eight prisoners to be freed, but The Tribune says he and two others named were already out of jail. Waryam Singh was freed in 2015 and died in 2020, according to The Tribune, so he is not held here.
• 5 to 8 December 2023: Rajoana went on hunger strike in the jail to press the SGPC to withdraw the mercy petition, and ended it when a delegation led by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh met him (The Tribune).
• 22 April 2026: the Supreme Court gave the Centre two weeks to file its reply on his plea for commutation because of the delay, and said no more time would be allowed. The plea is listed for 28 October 2026 (The Tribune, The News Mill).

Why it matters. By The Tribune’s count Rajoana has been in jail for more than 29 years. His case tests whether a mercy petition can wait without a decision. The Home Ministry has said that deciding it could compromise national security and create a law-and-order situation; his counsel argues that the delay is itself a ground for commutation.