New Delhi: Welcoming the Supreme Court`s refusal to commute Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar`s death penalty sentence to life imprisonment, Bharatiya Janata Party Vice President Balbir Punj on Friday said those who wage a war against the state should be ready to face consequences.
"The Supreme Court judgment must be respected. And whatever punishment had been awarded by the highest court should be implemented. And there cannot be any exception and those who wage a war against the state and conspire to destabilize the country through arms should be ready to face consequences," Punj said.
The apex court today rejected the petition of Bhullar, who had sought commutation of his death penalty to life sentence on the ground that he underwent great agony for 11 years awaiting the President`s decision on his mercy plea.
Delivering the verdict, the apex court said there was no merit in Bhullar`s mercy plea.
Bhullar was sentenced to death in 2001 for plotting terror attacks on Punjab SSP Sumedh Singh Saini and M.S. Bitta in 1993, leading to several deaths in New Delhi.
The apex court had on 26 March, 2002, dismissed Bhullar`s appeal against the death sentence awarded by trial court and endorsed by the Delhi High Court.
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 March 12, 2003.
Bhullar had filed a mercy petition before the President on 14 January, 2003. The President, however, rejected his mercy petition on May 25 last year, clearing the decks for his execution.
ANI
