President Pratibha Patil on 26 May 2011 rejected the mercy petition of Khalistani terrorist Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar. This was the second mercy petition from a Khalistan Liberation Force operative Bhullar. Bhullar was convicted for a bombing outside the Indian Youth Congress office in Delhi that killed nine persons in 1993. He was sentenced to death by a trial court in August 2001 and appealed for mercy the next year.
Bhullar was convicted of attacking the former Indian Youth Congress (IYC) chief MS Bitta in New Delhi on 11 September 1993 and former Chandigarh SSP, Sumedh Singh Saini, in 1991. Bitta was not killed, the attempt however resulted in the deaths of others.
The decision on 26 May came two days after the Supreme Court put the Delhi government on notice on Bhullar’s petition that his sentence be reduced to life imprisonment as the President had not decided on his mercy plea since 2002.
He was convicted in the now abolished TADA Court, based on his confession to the police. Such confessions are no longer counted as evidence. A three-Judge bench of the Supreme Court, however, upheld the death penalty for Bhullar later.
KLF used to be a major terror force in Punjab during the 1980s, when the state was under the sway of separatist militants.
President Pratibha Patil on the advice of the Home ministry sent another convicted murderer, Mahendra Nath Das of Assam to the gallows by rejecting his petition.
.jpg){kind=logo}
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation