The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s plea for commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds of inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition.
As the court gave its ruling, a doctor who has been treating the mentally ill Bhullar at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) in Delhi felt sad at the “dead end” that he forsees for him. Bhullar is being treated for depression and suicidal tendencies for the past two years.
Bhullar triggered a bomb blast at the youth Congress office in Delhi in September 1993. Nine people died and 25 were injured in the attack. Maninderjit Singh Bitta, who was then the youth Congress president, lost a leg.
With the sentence, there is a danger that his life will be stuck in a vicious circle. Under the law, a convict cannot be hanged till he is declared mentally and physically fit. But that cannot happen. Dr Nimesh G Desai of the IHBAS said: “We cannot hope he will fully recover now because there is no hope for him with the sentence.”
Desai said treating a patient who is also a convict has always been a dilemma because “you work under a limitation”. “Usually we don’t admit people for more than a few weeks. But in Bhullar’s case it has been two years.” Bhullar’s mental problems started in 2010 though Desai said even before that “he did have a history of mental illness”.
Dr Achal Bhagat, who works with SAARTHAK, an organisation which works for the rights of the mentally ill, said regardless of the nature of the act committed by Bhullar, if a person has been depressed it cannot be said that his right to defend himself has been fully honoured.
The SC bench, however, said: “Though the documents produced by Bhuller’s lawyer do give an indication that on account of prolonged detention in jail after his conviction and sentence to death, the petitioner has suffered physically and mentally, the same cannot be relied upon for recording a finding that his mental health has deteriorated to such an extent that the sentence awarded to him cannot be executed,” the bench said. (With agency inputs)
Who is Bhullar?
Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar triggered a bomb blast at the Youth Congress office in Delhi in September 1993
Nine people were killed, 25 injured
Maninderjit Singh Bitta, who was the youth Congress president, lost a leg
@ihskaa
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