Accepting the Centre's no objection to commute the sentence of 1993 Delhi blast terror convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, the Supreme Court on Monday reduced his penalty on the grounds of his mental illness and delays in the case.
A four-judges bench led by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said, "We commute his (Bhulla's) sentence from death to life on both the grounds of delay as well as illness."
Earlier, appearing before the bench, attorney general G E Vahanwati submitted that this case has to be allowed by the court and no argument is required in this matter.
In January, the apex court had stayed the execution of Bhullar on his wife's curative petition.
Bhullar's plea for commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment was pending since September 2013.
His counsel had told the court the April 12, 2013 judgment of declining to commute Bhullar's death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground that he was convicted under the terror law has become per incuriem in the light of three judges' verdict.
In January, 2014, the court had in a similar judgment had ruled that delay in deciding the mercy petition by the president and mental illness of the death row convict were grounds for commuting death sentence to life imprisonment.
The court had held that insanity/mental illness/schizophrenia could be the grounds for seeking commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment.
"We are of the view that unexplained delay is one of the grounds for commutation of sentence of death to life imprisonment and the said supervening circumstance is applicable to all types of cases, including the offences under TADA...," court had said in its judgment.
Bhullar was given capital punishment for the September 11, 1993 blast at the Youth Congress (YC) office on Raisina Road, New Delhi, a stone's throw from Parliament House, which left nine dead.
The attack was targeted against then Youth Congress leader Maninderjeet Singh Bitta.
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