|
New Delhi:
Amnesty International India Friday said that the dismissal of the
plea of 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar
could affect cases of at least 17 more prisoners on death row and
appealed for abolition of capital punishment.
Bhullar was sentenced to death in August 2001 for his involvement
in a bomb attack in New Delhi in 1993 that killed nine people. He
had challenged in the Supreme Court the president's decision to
reject his mercy plea, and sought commutation of his death
sentence on the grounds of inordinate delay in its consideration.
The Khalistani militant had challenged the constitutionality of
his prolonged stay on death row and the plea was rejected by the
apex court Friday.
"The Supreme Court of India rejected the commutation plea of
Devender Pal Singh Bhullar on April 12. This verdict could affect
the cases of at least 17 more prisoners," a statement issued by
Amnesty International India said.
The decision will pave the way for his hanging and is likely to
have an impact on 17 other convicts on the death row, including
those held guilty in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
It said President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected mercy petitions
involving seven people (Ajmal Kasab, Saibanna, Afzal Guru,
Gnanprakasham, Simon, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilavendran), and has
commuted one death sentence (Atbir).
"In the past five months, India has executed two of these
individuals: Ajmal Kasab on Nov 21, 2012, and Afzal Guru on Feb 9,
2013. Prior to these, the last execution in India had been that of
Dhananjoy Chatterjee in August 2004," the release said.
It called upon people to petition the president, the prime
minister and the home minister and call upon them not to execute
Bhullar, to remove him from death row immediately, and "retry his
case in proceedings that comply with international fair trial
standards".
Amnesty International India called for an immediate halt to
further executions, commuting of all death sentences to terms of
imprisonment and an official moratorium on executions with a view
to abolishing the death penalty.
Bhullar was arrested at the New Delhi airport in January 1995
under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act
(TADA).
Amnesty International India said the Supreme Court upheld
Bhullar's death sentence in March 2002 and one of the three judges
on the bench had found him not guilty.
"A review petition was dismissed by the same Supreme Court judges,
again by a two to one majority, in December 2002," it said, and
added that Bhullar has been receiving treatment at a psychiatric
facility in New Delhi since 2011.
It said the president rejected Bhullar's mercy petition in May
2011, eight years after the request was filed.
The release said the UN Commission on Human Rights has called upon
all states that retain the death penalty "not to impose the death
penalty on a person suffering from any mental or intellectual
disabilities or to execute any such person".
Amnesty International India claimed that execution of Ajmal Kasab
and Afzal Guru was carried out in a clandestine manner and public
was not informed of the date of execution.
"In Afzal Guru's case, his family received notification of the
execution after it had been carried out and his body was not
returned for burial," it said.
Amnesty said 140 countries in the world were abolitionist about
death penalty in law or in practice.
The Asian Centre of Human Rights (ACHR) said that the government
will have to execute 20 convicts whose mercy petitions had been
rejected over the past decade.
Suhas Chakma, director of (ACHR), said that the Supreme Court had
rejected delay as a ground for commutation.
"In the light of judgment in Bhullar's case, the government will
have to execute 20 people whose mercy petitions had been
rejected," he said.
He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs had informed on an RTI
query that as on March 28, 2013, nine mercy petitions were pending
before the president.
Chakma said the president had April 3 rejected mercy pleas in five
cases while commuting death sentences in two cases.
The Supreme Court April 6 stayed the execution of eight death row
convicts whose mercy petitions were rejected by the President.
|
Comments
|
Quick links