New Delhi, May 31: Amid a clamour for commuting the death sentence of Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, a Delhi-based Sikh body today said it will move a fresh mercy petition for him asking the President to take into account the split nature of the Supreme Court order confirming the sentence. Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) also argued that terrorism has been wiped out of Punjab and there was no likelihood of Bhullar, who was awarded death sentence for attempting to kill M S Bitta, or anyone else to repeat any such offence.
“We will move a fresh mercy petition for Bhullar. The Supreme Court verdict confirming his death sentence was a split verdict. The SC judgement itself had said that the split nature of the verdict could be considered while examining the mercy petition,” DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna said. Harvinder Singh Sarna, a member of DSGMC, said in the annuls of Indian judicial history, no one was sent to gallows on a split verdict. He said Bhullar has been languishing in jail for the past 17 years.
Bhullar, a member of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), was sentenced to death by a trial court on August 25, 2001 for plotting terror attacks on Punjab SSP Sumedh Singh Saini in 1991 and the then Youth Congress head in 1993. The rejection of Bhullar's mercy petition by President Pratibha Patil triggered a political game in Punjab, which is going to polls next year, with the ruling Akali Dal and opposition Congress demanding that his death sentence be commuted.
Akali Dal had sought the “direct and immediate” intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to save the life of Bhullar on grounds of humanitarianism while senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh said he felt that killing a man was not going to solve the problem. PTI
