Bhullar plea: SC tells Centre to explain delay

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to explain the eight-year delay in deciding the mercy plea of terrorist Devender Pal Singh Bhullar,who was awarded death penalty for triggering a bomb blast here in September 1993 killing nine persons.

A Bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi asked the Centre to file an affidavit by October 10,explaining the delay in deciding Bhullar’s mercy plea of 2003,rejected by President in 2011. “Everybody is anxious to know what happened during these eight years. What happened between 2003 and 2011?” the court asked the government.

Bhullar was sentenced to death by a TADA court on August 25,2001 for his role in the September 10,1993 bomb blast in Delhi targeting the cavalcade of the then Youth Congress president Maninderjit Singh Bitta who escaped with serious injuries,though nine security personnel were killed.

The SC had on March 26,2002 dismissed Bhullar’s appeal against death sentence.