New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up
death row convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar's counsel for
seeking repeated adjournments and blaming government for delay
in carrying out the execution of the capital punishment.
"You are complaining about delay on the part of the
government but you are seeking adjournments every time. It is
strange that sometimes you say the arguing counsel is not
there or you will say the instructing counsel is not there.
"We will not allow any adjournment. We will hear the
matter," the bench told a junior counsel who sought
adjournment of the case on the ground that the arguing counsel
was not available.
However, after the counsel repeatedly pleaded for
adjournment at least by a week, the bench said it would hear
the matter on Wednesday.
Bhullar was sentenced to death by a designated TADA court
on August 25, 2001, for his role in the September 10, 1993,
blast in Delhi targeting a cavalcade of car carrying the then
All India Youth Congress president M S Bitta who escaped with
serious injuries, though nine security personnel were killed.
The apex court had earlier sought the response of Delhi
government on Bhullar's petition seeking alteration of his
death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground that there
was a delay of eight years in carrying out the execution.
On September 5, Bhullar sought time through senior
counsel K T S Tulsi to file an amendment application for
reducing his sentence to life term by raising two additional
grounds in his support.
PTI
First Published: Monday, September 26, 2011, 21:42