Won't execute Bhullar till mercy plea decided, Centre tells SC

New Delhi: The Centre today assured the Supreme Court that death sentence of Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar will not be executed till it takes a decision on a fresh mercy plea on medical grounds. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam asked the Centre to take a decision on the mercy plea quickly as “delay of every day is a torture for the convict”. It granted two weeks time to the Centre to take a decision and posted the case for hearing on 10 March. Attorney General GE Vahanvati informed the court about the report sent by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor in which he had not favoured execution of Bhullar’s death sentence. [caption id=“attachment_1410337” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] The court was hearing a curative petition filed by Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur seeking commutation of death sentence. The LG, in his report sent to the Centre, said, “On principles of human ethics and natural justice, I cannot bring myself to recommend the rejection of the mercy petition of Navneet Kaur (wife of Bhullar) and my comments may kindly be forwarded to the President of India for the final disposal in the matter.” The apex court had on 31 January stayed his execution. The plea of Bhullar’s wife for commutation of death sentence assumes significance in view of the apex court’s 21 January verdict holding that inordinate and inexplicable delay by the government in deciding mercy plea of death row convicts can be a ground for commuting their sentence. Bhullar’s wife has filed the petition seeking a relook at the apex court verdict which rejected her plea to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds his mental condition and because of delay on the part of the government in deciding his earlier mercy plea. She submitted that her husband is not mentally fit and he is being treated by Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS). Bhullar was convicted and awarded death penalty for triggering a bomb blast in New Delhi in September 1993, which killed nine persons and injured 25 others, including the then Youth Congress chief M S Bitta. The apex court had on March 26, 2002 dismissed Bhullar’s appeal against death sentence awarded by a trial court in August 2001 and endorsed by the Delhi High Court in 2002. He had filed a review petition which was also dismissed on 17 December, 2002. Bhullar had then moved a curative petition which too had been rejected by the apex court on 12 March, 2003. Bhullar, meanwhile, had filed a mercy petition before the President on 14 January, 2003. The President, after a lapse of over eight years, dismissed his mercy plea on May 14, 2011. Citing the delay, he had again moved the apex court for commutation of the death sentence but his plea was rejected. The apex court had on January 21 held inordinate delay by government in deciding mercy plea of death row convicts can be a ground for commuting their sentence and granted life term to 15 condemned prisoners, including four aides of forest brigand Veerappan. In a landmark judgement, the court had held that prolonging execution of death sentence has a “dehumanising effect” on condemned prisoners who have to face the “agony” of waiting for years under the shadow of death during the pendency of their mercy plea. PTI