The Delhi Government has decided to refer the matter of execution of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The decision came after a medical board set up by the state government examined the death row convict and gave a report last month that he was not mentally sound as he was suffering from severe depression.
The report of the medical board was forwarded to Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna recently and he referred it to Director General of Tihar Jail Vimla Mehra.
Tihar Jail officials said a death row convict cannot be executed if he is not physically and mentally fit.
Bhullar has been undergoing treatment at the Human Behaviour and Allied Science Institute here for over two years now and the doctors at the hospital found that he had suicidal tendencies.
Bhullar was awarded a death penalty for triggering a bomb blast in the national capital on September 1993, which killed nine persons and caused injuries to 25 others, including then Youth Congress president M S Bitta.
On April 12, the Supreme Court dismissed Bhullar’s petition seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on ground of considerable delay in taking a decision on his mercy plea.
Later, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal made a request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stall Bhullar’s execution as it could emotionally affect a large section of the population in Punjab and possibly lead to law and order problems.
On May 7, Bhullar’s wife filed a review petition against the Supreme Court’s April judgment.
Bhullar had filed a mercy petition before the President on January 14, 2003, which was was dismissed on May 25, 2011.