New Delhi: Nearly 60,000 Punjab
police personnel and 15 companies of para-military forces have been put on
alert after a Chandigarh court ordered that Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in
former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh's killing, be hanged as scheduled on
March 31.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 banning
assembly of five or more persons were clamped at various places as a state wide
bandh has been called on Wednesday by several Sikh organisations.
Security around the Central Jail at Patiala, where
Rajoana is lodged, has been beefed up by erecting additional security check
points and restricting the entry of those going towards the prison side.
Official sources said that only persons with bonafide work are being allowed to
proceed towards the Central Jail.
The SAD-BJP government and the Congress in the
state have demanded grant of clemency to Rajoana.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday
insisted that no action should be taken until the High Court passes its final
verdict on the case. "My plea to the President is that the case is still
on and no action should be taken yet. The law of the land must be upheld. I
shall meet President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday," he said.
The court of additional district and sessions judge
Shalini Singh Nagpal had on Tuesday rejected jail superintendent LS Jakhar's
petition seeking deferment of the hanging. The court directed that the hanging
be held as per earlier schedule on Saturday at 9 am.
Claiming that he was refusing to accept the warrant
of death for Rajoana purely on the grounds that "there were legal
infirmities in the procedure", Jakhar sought deferment of hanging pending
a decision of the Supreme Court on the appeals of two other terrorists,
Lakhwinder Singh and Jagtar Singh Hawara, who were also convicted in the Beant
Singh assassination case.
"If the President decides to grant clemency or
commutes the sentence from death to life, and in the mean time if someone hangs
him, then how will you bring him back to life?" said Punjab Additional
Advocate General AS Garewal.
The Jail Superintendent has even invited a contempt
notice, but remains adamant.
"I have all regards
for court. I have no doubt about it, but there is certain ruling that the
Supreme Court has laid down. How can I violate that? I have to take a legal
remedy. We will get to the High Court on Wednesday," said Patiala Jail
Superintendent Lakhwinder Singh Jakhar.
