Bhullar's release in a legal bind after some SRB members resist

New Delhi: Amid calls for releasing Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, a 1993 Delhi bomb blast case convict, the process is now entangled in a legal quagmire with the Delhi government firmly maintaining that it is legally bound to follow the Union government's direction to release him but several members of the Sentence Review Board disagreeing strongly — which is what has now led to deferring the matter further.

In the March 2 meeting, sources aware of details have said that while Home Minister Satyendar Jain had clearly stated that the Delhi government had to follow through on the Union's recommendation for releasing Bhullar, at least four members of the SRB — the Law Secretary, Home Secretary and the Joint Commissioner of Police part of the SRB, had strongly opposed the release — citing either that he continued to pose a danger if released or that he should not be released because of the gravity of his offence.

One of the sources told Millennium Post that this came despite the SRB meeting of March 2, discussing in detail that Bhullar was currently suffering from an acute mental illness as certified by the Medical Board as of February 2014 and was practically in a "vegetative state". In fact, this was the

basis on which his death sentence was commuted by the Supreme Court. Despite this, the Law Secretary of the Delhi government opined that he is a dreaded criminal who caused the death of several people and so there was no question of releasing him. Moreover, the Home Secretary of the Delhi government was of the opinion that he was a "terrorist" and that such a "dangerous person" cannot be released.

Meanwhile, the senior Delhi Police officer on the board opined that Bhullar, if released, might "collude" with Sikhs for Justice and try to destabilise Punjab. In addition, the judicial officer on the board opined that Bhullar should not be released because he was a "hardened criminal".

Now, given that the Delhi government finds itself in a position to follow the Centre's recommendation to release Bhullar (made under Article 161) and that the Sentence Review Board stands in opposition to this recommendation — the legal question that needs to be addressed is whether the SRB can overrule the Union government's recommendation. In addition, it is also being considered if such a matter should now be sent directly to the office of L-G Anil Baijal for a final decision — as a result of which, the matter had been deferred to the next meeting.

Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain heads the SRB, which has a total of seven members.

Bhullar was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people and injuring of 31 in a bomb blast in 1993 in Delhi and was sentenced to death by a designated TADA court in 2001. After the SC commuted his death sentence, he is now serving life in Amritsar.

But the Ministry of Home Affairs, in a letter to the Chief Secretary of Delhi on September 29, 2019, had informed about its decision to give special remission to eight Sikh prisoners facing life imprisonment,

including Bhullar, on the occasion of the commemoration of 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, asking the Chief Secretary to take "all required actions".