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SC orders status quo on Devender Pal Bhullar’s release
This September, the Centre decided to release eight Sikh prisoners, including Bhullar, on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. The government said that it was granting special remission to eight prisoners.
A Supreme Court bench led by justice RF Nariman on Tuesday directed the Union government to maintain status quo on the release of Devender Pal Bhullar, convicted under the now-scrapped Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, of TADA, in connection with a terror attack on the then Youth Congress chief Maninderjeet Singh Bitta in 1993.
Bitta, who survived the attack, has challenged the government’s decision to release Bhullar, in the Supreme Court.
This September, the Centre decided to release eight Sikh prisoners, including Bhullar, on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. The government said that it was granting special remission to eight prisoners.
Bhullar was convicted and awarded the death penalty in 2001 by a TADA court for triggering a bomb blast in New Delhi in September 1993, which killed nine persons and injured 17 others, including Bitta.
Bhullar’s death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment by Supreme Court in 2014 after it concluded that there was an inordinated delay on the part of the President in deciding Bhullar’s mercy plea.
Opposing the release of Bhullar, Bitta in his petition alleged that Bhullar had been holding durbars within jail premises because of his political nexus.
Appearing for Bitta, senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta told the court that once the apex court commutes death penalty to life, it means the convict has to serve the remaining life span behind bars.
Arguing that the executive cannot reduce the life sentence imposed by the Supreme Court, Gupta also cited an earlier apex court order, which said that the practice by the state to release convicts on birthdays was a “madness” that cannot be allowed.
Gupta also argued that “in any event, being a TADA convict, the executive cannot remit the sentence of the convict, under Article 161”.
The court said it will look into the matter on merits and till then status quo will prevail, meaning Bhullar cannot be released by the government.
