E-Paper
Germany pitches for commuting death penalty
The German embassy in New Delhi on Thursday conveyed to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) that Germany had strongly taken up the issue of commuting Devinderpal Singh Bhullar's death sentence to life imprisonment with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The German embassy in New Delhi on Thursday conveyed to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) that Germany had strongly taken up the issue of commuting Devinderpal Singh Bhullar's death sentence to life imprisonment with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
At a meeting with DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK and general secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the embassy conveyed that German President Joachim Gauck had sent a written communiqué to the Indian President and PM.
"The embassy has conveyed to us that it was mentioned in the communication to India's top leaders that when Bhullar was extradited from Germany in 1995, it was decided that he would not be given capital punishment in India," said GK.
He said the German intervention would help the efforts being made by the Shiromani Akali Dal and the DSGMC to save Bhullar from the gallows.
India's leaders were also told by the German President that capital punishment was not prevalent in Germany and the European Union.
Bhullar's wife Navneet Kaur and human rights lawyers from London Jaswant Kaur and Satnam Singh were also present at the meeting.
On April 15, Navneet and the others had approached the embassy, seeking the German government's intervention in the matter. "On Thursday, we were called to the embassy for a meeting in response to our request," the DSGMC president said.
German minister for foreign affairs Guido Westerwlee has also written to his Indian counterpart, Salman Khurshid, on the issue, asking the Indian government to commute Bhullar's death sentence.
Bhullar is on death row after being convicted for the 1993 Delhi bomb blast, which killed nine persons. The attack had targeted then Youth Congress chief Maninderjit Singh Bitta, who survived.
