Bhullar`s death penalty should be commuted: Delhi govt to SC

The Delhi government on Friday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, saying that 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar`s death penalty should be commuted.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Friday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, saying that 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar`s death penalty should be commuted.

In its affidavit submitted to the apex court, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government has said that Bhullar is suffering form mental illness and his death sentence should be commuted.
The Delhi government`s reaction comes after the SC last month stayed the execution of the death sentence of Bhullar and issued notice to the Centre and Delhi government on his petition seeking commuting of his death sentence to life imprisonment.

The apex court bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justice RM Lodha, Justice HL Dattu and Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya is hearing the case.
The court asked Delhi-based Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences to examine Bhullar and submit a report on his state of mental health within a week.

Earlier, the bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh Jan 21, had ruled that delay in deciding the mercy petition by the president and mental illness of death row convict are grounds for commuting death sentence to life imprisonment.

The three-judge bench had also said that while commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds of inordinate delay in deciding the mercy petition by the president, the court`s decision would not be coloured by the consideration whether the person on death row was convicted under the provision of Indian Penal Code or the terror law TADA.

Bhullar was given capital punishment for the 1993 blast at the Youth Congress office, a stone`s throw from Parliament House in Delhi, which left nine people dead.

With IANS inputs

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