SC rejects Devinderpal Singh Bhullar's mercy plea: All you need to know

The Supreme Court today dismissed a mercy petition submitted by Devinderpal Singh Bhullar for his role in carrying out a blast in 1993 to be commuted to life sentence on account of the fact that it has taken too long to carry it out. Here are some facts about the engineering graduate who is accused of not only carrying out a blast in 1993 but also recruiting others for the Khalistan Liberation Force: - Bhullar is a grauduate in electrical engineering from Guru Nanak Engineering College in Ludhiana - He is convicted of triggering a blast near the Indian Youth Congress office in Delhi in 1993 which claimed nine lives and injured 30 persons, including the then president of the organisation Maninderjit Singh Bitta. Bitta’s legs were amputated as a result of the attack. [caption id=“attachment_696249” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image from IBN-Live[/caption] - The alleged Khalistan Liberation Force ideologue was suspected to be involved in other bomb attacks, including an 1991 attack on the SSP of Chandigarh, Sumedh Singh Saini. - After carrying out the blast in 1993, Bhullar fled to Germany in 1994 using a fake passport, but was deported from there a year later. He reportedly sought political asylum in Germany, which was rejected by the authorities there. - Bhullar had been charged under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. He also allegedly gave a confession after he was brought back to India, which was admissible against him, despite him later retracting it. - Bhullar had alleged that a Delhi Police team had forced him to claim responsibility for the attack in Delhi and had forced him to sign a confession. - He was sentenced to death by the Delhi high court in 2001. - Bhullar had filed a petition before the Supreme Court the same year but the appeal was rejected by a three-member bench. -Many advocates seeking clemency for Bhullar have pointed to the fact that the verdict by the Supreme Court was a split verdict, with two judges ruling in favour of the capital punishment for Bhullar, while one raised doubts about it. - One of the Supreme Court judges had raised doubts over the veracity of the confession used against Bhullar to convict him and sentence him to death. - Bhullar then filed a review petition in the Supreme Court in December 2002, seeking to overturn the earlier verdict but it was heard by the same bench, which upheld their earlier judgement. - Bhullar’s plea for mercy was rejected by the President Pratibha Patil in May 2011. - Bhullar has spent time in a mental asylum in New Delhi in 2011 and his wife has claimed he is suffering from depression and other ailments. - Political leaders in Punjab from across parties, including the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal, have sought mercy for Bhullar. - Bhullar’s case was cited by those who had sought the commutation of the death sentence awarded to 2001 Parliament convict Mohammed Afzal Guru. They argued on the grounds that if the Supreme Court ruled that death sentences not carried out within a certain period should be commuted, many others could get the benefit of this decision.