Supreme Court stays Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar's execution, issues notice to centre

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and sought a medical report on the mental condition of the mastermind of the 1993 Delhi blasts to decide whether to commute his death sentence to life.

A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam on Friday asked Delhi-based Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, where Bhullar is being treated, to submit a report on the Khalistani terrorist within a week. Bhullar’s lawyer KTS Tulsi said he has been diagnosed with mental illness.

The top court had in a recent ruling held that a person suffering from mental illness while awaiting execution of his death sentence or kept in solitary confinement for long while his mercy plea was being decided would be entitled to have his death sentence commuted to life.

Any inordinate and unexplainable delay in the pat of the government would qualify for commuting death sentence, it had said. On Friday the bench comprising Justices RM Lodha, HL Dattu and SJ Mukhopadhya besides the chief justice, issued notices to central and Delhi governments, seeking their views on a plea filed by Bhullar's mother.

Bhullar was awarded death penalty for masterminding a car bomb blast in Delhi in 1993, killing nine. Justice Lodha wondered whether the bench should treat the case as miscarriage of justice and decide the case in a curative or should a family member file another petition and seek the benefit of the recent ruling on the ground that he was mentally unfit to be executed. The case will now come up for further hearing on February 19.