A radical Sikh group Dal Khalsa has sought the European Union’s intervention to save death row convict Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, whose mercy petition has been rejected by the President and death sentence upheld by the Supreme Court.
In a letter to the European Union Ambassador in India, Dal Kalsa president H S Dhami said the EU should intervene and put diplomatic pressure to stop Bhullar’s execution.
He argued that it was a unique case as the Supreme Court judgment upholding the sentence was a split verdict with one judge acquitting him. This, as the conviction was based solely on the so called confession before the police without any concrete evidence. Also there was too much delay in making a decision on the mercy petition to the President.
Dhami said the Dal Khalsa offered in principle support to abolition of capital punishment. The letter further said the Union Government was resorting to double standards in similar cases and cited the example of Abu Salem, who was extradited from Portugal. In his case, India had promised that he would not be given death sentence. The same was the case with the trial of Italian marines in India.
Bhullar was deported from Germany and the Centre had steadfastly ignored the requests from German Government to waive his death penalty on humanitarian grounds, it added.
A Frankfurt court had in 1997 termed the deportation of Bhullar as illegal under the German law, which prohibited deportation of someone facing death penalty in the recipient country.
Dhami also cited the case of Afzal Guru, who was executed in a questionable manner, and expressed the apprehension that Bhullar might meet the same fate.