Delhi backed Bhullar’s release, cited Centre’s letter, say officials

Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011 in the 1993 Delhi bomb blasts case. In March 2014, however, the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment considering his poor health, and a delay in the trial.

The Delhi government backed the premature release of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar during a meeting of the Sentence Review Board (SRB) held on Wednesday, according to officials aware of the matter.

Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar was convicted for his role in the 1993 Delhi bomb blasts. (HT Archive)

Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain, who is the chairperson of the board, told the panel that Bhullar should be released since the Centre has also written to the Delhi government to free him.

According to these officials, four of the seven-member board opposed the release of Bhullar, a convict in the 1993 Delhi bomb blasts, but the officials did not say who these members were. At this point, the board decided to assess the legal position on the matter, the officials added.

The case will now be taken up in the next SRB meeting.

The seven-member SRB is headed by the Delhi home minister and has six other members -- Tihar’s director-general, Delhi’s home secretary, Delhi’s law secretary, a district judge, a senior Delhi Police officer, and the director of the Delhi social welfare department. The seven members take a vote after discussing the case of each prisoner.

HT contacted some members of the board for their response. Till late Thursday night, the officials did not respond to calls and text messages.

One of the officials cited above, said, “During the discussion on Bhullar’s case, home minister Satyendar Jain told the board that the direction of the Centre to Delhi government to give special remission was binding on the state government. This had to be done under Article 161 of the Constitution. So, he(Jain) said that the Delhi government ought to release him.”

On Wednesday, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi was backing out from the promises it made over releasing Bhullar in the run up to the recently concluded Punjab assembly elections.

The AAP declined comment on the matter on Wednesday, but the party has maintained that its rivals were politicising the issue. It has maintained that SRB, which will decide the matter, is not a Delhi government body.

During the meeting, SRB members also discussed Bhullar’s medical condition. The 1993 blasts convict was suffering mental health issues since February 5, 2014. This was one of the reasons why the Central government had decided to release him from prison in 2019 on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

On paper, Bhullar, 57, is a prisoner of Tihar Jail, but has been lodged in Punjab’s Amritsar Jail since 2015 due to mental health issues. Bhullar was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011 in the 1993 Delhi bomb blasts case. In March 2014, however, the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment considering his poor health, and a delay in the trial.

Bhullar’s case was put up for consideration twice before the SRB -- on February 28, 2020, and on December 11, 2020 -- but was rejected on both occasions.

Bhullar has completed at least 24 years in prison and is undergoing life imprisonment in a case registered under FIR number 316/1993 at the Parliament Street police station under sections of murder (IPC 302) and those under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.