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Punjab: Delhi govt rejects premature release of 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Bhullar
Bhullar was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people and injuring 31 in the blast in 1993. Among those who survived the attack is former Youth Congress chief MS Bitta.
The Sentence Review Board (SRB) of Delhi has again rejected the premature release of 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, officials said on Tuesday.
Bhullar was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people and injuring 31 in the blast in 1993. Among those who survived the attack is former Youth Congress chief MS Bitta.
Bhullar was awarded the death penalty by a designated TADA court in August 2001, but his capital punishment was commuted to a life sentence in 2014. He was shifted to Amritsar Central Jail from Delhi’s Tihar Jail on health grounds in June 2015.
In 2022, his premature release case was deferred by the SRB, despite his ‘poor health condition’ and ‘vegetative state’, officials said. Later, his premature release was declined by the SRB in its meeting in 2024.
The Centre had, in September 2019, recommended special remission to eight Sikh prisoners, including Bhullar, to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
However, his release was objected to by some members of the SRB, based on the fact that his action as a terrorist claimed innocent lives, and that sending him out at a time when voices in favour of Khalistan were trying to resurrect abroad as well as in Punjab, would embolden them further, the sources said.
It’s a violation of human rights: SGPC
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami condemned the Delhi government’s decision to once again reject the release petition of Bhullar, terming it an act of injustice against Sikhs.
“Earlier, during the Aam Aadmi Party government’s tenure, Bhullar’s release petition had been rejected multiple times, and now the BJP government too is following the same path by taking decisions that go against Sikh sentiments,” Dhami said.
He said that while the SRB has recommended remission of sentences for several prisoners, the case of Bhullar, who has been undergoing imprisonment for the past 33 years, has been rejected, which is a violation of human rights.
