Delhi govt should adopt compassionate approach in Bhullar's case: Akal Takht Jathedar

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj on Thursday termed unfortunate the BJP-led Delhi governments rejection of a petition seeking the release of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, a 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict. Gargajj said viewing Bhullars case from the perspective of humanity and compassion, the government should respect the sentiments of the entire Sikh community and release him permanently, as he has already completed his sentence.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj on Thursday termed ''unfortunate'' the BJP-led Delhi government's rejection of a petition seeking the release of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, a 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict. Gargajj said recently Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Cabinet Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa and other ministers met him at the secretariat of Akal Takht Sahib, during which he had asked the chief minister to ensure the release of Bhullar. He said that earlier, for ten years, the Aam Aadmi Party government led by Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi had kept the matter of Bhullar's release pending and ''failed'' to respect the sentiments of the Sikh community. He added that now, after the change of regime in Delhi with the BJP coming to power, the government's Sentence Review Board considered the cases of release of 51 prisoners, out of which 24 cases were rejected, while 27 were approved. Gargajj said viewing Bhullar's case from the perspective of humanity and compassion, the government should respect the sentiments of the entire Sikh community and release him permanently, as he has already completed his sentence. Bhullar was convicted in connection with the blast in 1993, killing nine people and injuring 31. He was awarded the death penalty by a designated Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court in August 2001, but the Supreme Court commuted his capital punishment to life sentence in 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)