IANS/Chandigarh
The Congress Party in Punjab yesterday termed the appeal of the state’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal for clemency to Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar “a farce”, and accused it of shedding “crocodile tears” for the 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict.
“Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal should clearly spell out their stand on the issue and also the contradictory approaches they have been adopting so far,” Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira said.
“The demand for clemency to Bhullar by the Akali Dal is nothing but a farce, shedding crocodile tears and extreme double standards in politics,” Khaira said in a statement.
The core committee of the Akali Dal on Saturday described as “deeply painful, unfortunate and worrying” the rejection by the Supreme Court of Bhullar’s petition for commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment.
An Akali Dal spokesperson said the chief minister and the party chief would meet the president, the prime minister and federal home minister to urge them “to operationalise the post-judicial mechanism of statesmanship in order to avoid even at this stage any steps that may pose a threat to peace and communal harmony in the country in general and Punjab in particular.”
Khaira, however, claimed that while defending Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini in a case in the Supreme Court in 2009, the Badal government had submitted an affidavit saying “such hardcore and experienced criminals (Bhullar), who have a well-organised international support base...is a matter of concern.”
The case pertained to the disappearance of Bhullar’s father, uncle and another youth in 1991 following an attack on Saini with a car bomb in Chandigarh.
Khaira said the Badal government had handpicked Saini as Punjab DGP last year, superseding five senior officers. He added the government had been defending Saini in various cases despite his controversial past record in the elimination of youth in Punjab.
Khaira also questioned the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar for not confronting the government on the affidavit filed against Bhullar in the Supreme Court.
“I am amused and surprised how the pleas of Akali Dal, SGPC and others will have any impact when the Badal government has taken such a stand against Bhullar in the Supreme Court,” Khaira said.
Meanwhile the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on the hanging of condemned convicts is likely to impact the case of Assam’s death row murder convict Mahendra Nath Das, whose mercy plea was rejected by the president in 2011.
The court while rejecting Bhullar’s appeal ruled that delay in disposal of mercy petitions of death row convicts could not be a ground for commuting capital punishment to life imprisonment. Das’s case was tagged by the court with the petition of Bhullar.
“The verdict in the Bhullar’s case by the apex court is likely to impact the case of Das in Assam too. We are expecting to receive instruction from the court,” an official of the Jorhat jail, who refused to be identified, said.
“It should not take more than 10 days to reach us,” he said, adding that the execution would take some time as the state government had to arrange for a hangman.
Mahendra Nath Das killed Rajen Das in Guwahati in 1990 and surrendered before the police. He beheaded Harakanta Das in 1996 in Guwahati while out on bail.
Das was sentenced to death in 1997. The penalty was confirmed by the Gauhati High Court in February 1998.
The apex court in May 1999 turned down the appeal of Das’ family to commute his death sentence. His mercy petition before the president was rejected in 2011.
Sukhpal Singh Khaira
