SC orders status quo on Bhullar’s release
THE CENTRE DECIDED TO RELEASE EIGHT SIKH PRISONERS, INCLUDING BHULLAR, ON THE OCCASION OF 550TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF GURU NANAK
NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court bench led by justice RF Nariman on Tuesday directed the Union government to maintain status quo on the release of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, convicted under the now-scrapped Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, of TADA, in connection with a terror attack on the then Youth Congress chief Maninderjeet Singh Bitta in 1993.
Bitta, who survived the attack, has challenged the government’s decision to release Bhullar, in the Supreme Court.
This September, the Centre decided to release eight Sikh prisoners, including Bhullar, on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. The Centre said that it was granting special remission to eight prisoners.
Bhullar was convicted and awarded the death penalty in 2001 by a TADA court for triggering a bomb blast in New Delhi in September 1993, which killed nine persons and injured 17 others, including Bitta.
Bhullar’s death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment by Supreme Court in 2014 after it concluded that there was an inordinated delay on the part of the President in deciding Bhullar’s mercy plea.
Opposing the release of Bhullar, Bitta in his petition alleged that Bhullar had been holding durbars within jail premises because of his political nexus.
Appearing for Bitta, senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta told the court that once the apex court commutes death penalty to life, it means the convict has to serve the remaining life span behind bars.
Arguing that the executive cannot reduce the life sentence imposed by the apex court, Gupta also cited an earlier apex court order, which said that the practice by the state to release convicts on birthdays was a “madness” that cannot be allowed.