Badal makes plea for Delhi bomb blast convict Bhullar’s release

1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar is undergoing life imprisonment after the SC commuted his death sentence.

Former Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, who is hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19, on Sunday sought the release of 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who is undergoing life imprisonment after the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence.

Former Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal, who has tested positive for Covid-19, shared a video from hospital bed. (HT File Photo)

In a 2.45-minute-long video, which was shot from the hospital bed, Badal, 94, thanked his well-wishers and prayed for communal harmony in Punjab.

The Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch said that both the Centre and judiciary have approved the release of Bhullar, who has completed his jail term, but due to some “unknown reasons”, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was not signing the release papers.

Badal said that when all requisite clearances have been made, then this matter should not be kept pending, as it is not in the interest of the state and country. The former CM said that it is an emotional issue, and he requests Kejriwal to personally look into it.

Badal, who was admitted to Hero Dayanand Heart Institute in Ludhiana on Wednesday, was scheduled to be discharged on Saturday, but was kept for further observation for two days after he again developed fever.

Earlier, multiple Sikh bodies, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, have blamed Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for the delay in Bhullar’s release. During his visit to the Golden Temple on Saturday, AAP’s Punjab CM candidate Bhagwant Mann had said that legal process in the case is going on and the Delhi government will take a decision on Bhullar’s release once it gets over.