NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday commuted the death sentence of 1993 terror convict Devenderpal Singh Bhullar to life imprisonment on the grounds of inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition and on the grounds of mental illness.
Bhullar was convicted for his involvement in 1993 Delhi bomb blast case and his wife Navneet Kaur had sought commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds of delay in deciding his mercy petition and also on grounds he is suffering from mental illness.
On March 27, the central government had told the apex court that there was delay in the deciding death row convict Devinderpal Singh Bhullar’s mercy petition and the court could decide on his wife’s plea for commutation of death sentence into life imprisonment.
A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justice RM Lodha, Justice HL Dattu and Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya was told that the court, by its January 21 verdict, had already decided that inordinate and unexplained delay in deciding the mercy petition by the President is a ground for commuting death sentence into life imprisonment.
Appreciating the position articulated by the Centre, the SC said that it was a fair stand and reserved its order which was pronounced today.
FOR: IBC NEWS.
