Source: dailybhaskar.com
20 April 2012
Chandigarh:
The judgment on Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s plea for life imprisonment was
reserved by the Supreme Court on Thursday. He was awarded death penalty for a
bomb attack on the then Youth Congress president MS Bitta in 1993.
An order was passed by the SC bench in lieu to the pleadings
that Bhullar be spared from the gallows as he had virtually undergone life
sentence due to the long delay in the rejection of his mercy plea. The Centre
had opposed his plea, earlier.
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The Centre was directed by the SC bench to have a timeframe for
deciding mercy petitions. The additional solicitor-general sought three months
for getting the government’s response to the suggestion.
The delay in mercy petitions against death sentences has
affected people’s faith in the government’s ability to maintain law and order
on such matters, court stated.
Bhullar’s wife had approached the SC seeking commutation of the
death sentence on several grounds including his mental ailment. The 1993 bomb
attack in Delhi had killed nine security personnel while 25 persons including
Bitta were injured.
