New Delhi, India (May 08, 2013): It is learnt that Professor Devinderpal Singh Bhullar’s wife Bibi Navneet Kaur who had moved to Supreme Court of India (SCI) on May 07, 2013 seeking stay on execution of Prof. Bhullar was unable to get an urgent stay on execution of Prof. Bhullar. The SCI reportedly chose not to restrain authorities from executing his death penalty during the pendency of review petition.
Professor Devender Pal Singh Bhullar (on death row in India since 2001)
Prof. Bhullar’s wife had earlier sought commutation of death sentence given to her husband on the ground of inordinate delay in deciding constitutional review petition. But the plea was dismissed by the SCI on April 12, 2013. Now she has filed a review petition against April 12 verdict.
According to Indian Express (IE) “[s]eeking a stay on his execution, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who was appointed as an amicus curiae in the matter, expressed apprehension that Bhullar could be hanged in secrecy like Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru even though his review petition remained pending”.
“We don’t want to know it from the newspapers or TV channels in the morning that he has been hanged. It has been happening in this country and last hangings were under such circumstances,” Jethmalani reportedly argued before a Bench led by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir.
“The Bench told him that the same situation prevailed when the matter remained pending before the other court for a decision and that it would not be proper to allow the convict re-agitate the same issues time and again”, the Indian Express (IE) news report reads further.
Prof. Bhullar was one of the organizers of Sikh movement of 1980s-90s at political levels, who is sentenced to death by Indian courts in a highly controversial manner; where even the participants of Indian judicial system have raised questions over his conviction.