INDIA: STAYED EXECUTION

the hanging of Beant Singh assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana would not take place on March 31 as ordered by a local court, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said.
Sukhbir told the media that "our duty is to maintain law and order at any cost. Hanging is not going to take place". He said the order for execution of Rajoana cannot be carried out since Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has filed a petition before the President Partibha Patil seeking clemency for him. The appeal of another convict Lakhwinder Singh is also pending in the Supreme Court, he added.
 He said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal made a clear statement in the state assembly saying he would soon be calling on the President and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in order to secure clemency for Rajoana and get his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
Rajoana, who is lodged in Central Jail at Patiala in Punjab, himself has not filed any mercy or review petition following the recent order of the Additional Sessions Judge of Chandigarh Shalini Singh Nagpal fixing March 31 as the date of hanging of Rajoana.