1993 Delhi bomb blast case: Apex court upholds Bhullar's hanging

Dismissing a plea by 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar challenging the rejection of his mercy plea by the president the Supreme Court yesterday refused to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment An apex court bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice SJ Mukhopadyay said the petitioner had failed to make a case for commuting death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds of the delay by the president in deciding his mercy plea u00a0 Devender Pal Singh Bhullar was given capital punishment for the 1993 blast at the Youth Congress office in Delhi which left nine dead The attack was targeted against then Youth Congress leader MS Bitta File pics ldquoThe appeal is dismissedrdquo the court said Bhullar was given capital punishment for the 1993 blast at the Youth Congress office in Delhi which left nine dead The attack was targeted against then Youth Congress leader MS Bitta Bhullar had filed a mercy petition on January 14 2003 which was rejected by the president on May 25 2011 While in New Delhi the Congress and the BJP welcomed the Supreme Court ruling in Punjab the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee SGPC termed the ruling as ldquounfortunaterdquo Senior Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumajra said in Chandigarh ldquoIt is an unfortunate judgment We were hoping that the court would keep in mind the situation in Punjab at that time We will appeal to the president to review the decision We will also appeal to the prime minister to intervenerdquo The SGPC the miniparliament of the Sikhs said it was ldquodisappointedrdquo by the apex court ruling SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said ldquoThis is an unfortunate thing for the Sikh communityrdquo lsquoJustice deliveredrsquo But the man who was the target in the 1993 bomb blast outside the Youth Congress office in New Delhi Maninderjit Singh Bitta welcomed the ruling ldquoBhullarrsquos file kept moving inside the home ministry law ministry and the Delhi government for 15 years I didnrsquot expect Bhullar will get the death sentencerdquo Bitta said He also alleged that the Sheila Dikshit government had tried to help Bhullar by declaring him ldquomentalrdquo ldquoTodayrsquos decision was very crucial We bow before the courtrdquo Bitta said He also alleged that no one including his Congress party had come forward to help him ldquoNo one was with me The media also left me I always asked why they had withdrawn my security cover there was also an attack on me in 1992 My party and my leadership got frightened and left me to fend for myselfrdquo Bitta said While hearing Bhullarrsquos petition the court on November 15 2011 expanded the scope of the proceedings by taking on board all the 17 mercy petitions pending for several years before the president seeking commutation of death sentences to life imprisonment Tweet talk prab_the_man India will hang a mentally ill man whose confession was extracted by use of torture iShrutiKohli Bhullarrsquos wife says hersquos mentally unstable Is it So you shouldrsquove kept him locked in the house in 1993 Left him open amp see what he did rexarul While SupremeCourtOfIndia judgment on Bhullarrsquos case was as expected amp based on sound established lawam disapptd lsquoBhullar mentally unfit to be hangedrsquo Khalistani terrorist Devender Pal Singh Bhullar needs more mental health treatment and cannot be hanged till declared fit officials said yesterday ldquoBhullar is undergoing treatment at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences IHBAS in Dilshad Gardenrdquo the office of his lawyer KTS Tulsi said Bhullar was sent to the mental health institute twoandhalf years ago and has since been lodged there A doctor said he needs more treatmentldquoBhullar is undergoing treatment by a panel of five to six doctorsrdquo Rajesh Kumar one of the doctors treating Bhullar at the IHBAS said ldquoIt is not easy to say how much time is required for him to be mentally fitrdquo he said Tihar Central Jail spokesman Sunil Gupta said ldquoAs per Indian law a convict cannot be hanged till he is declared mentally and physically fitrdquo