‘Agree to AAP’s arguments’: Delhi blast convict’s lawyer demands Kejriwal govt to pass resolution for Davinder Bhullar’s release

“Though officers, including a judge, can’t be called BJP men, but I have a suggestion for the party. If AAP doesn’t have a majority in the SRB and it really wants to help in the release of Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, then you should do what then Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa had done for the release of convicts in Rajiv Gandhi murder case. She had passed a resolution in the state cabinet for the release of convicts and sent it to the governor of the state,” Manjhpur told The Indian Express.

“The cabinet is of the government, and it will make way for the release of Bhullar. It should be done immediately,” he said.

He said that what AAP spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang has said is right about the rejection of Davinder Pal Bhullar’s permanent release in the SRB meeting held in December 21 last year.

It is also the first time that the board, which has Delhi Jails Minister as its member, has rejected Bhullar’s plea after the AAP formed a government in Punjab.

Bhullar has undergone an actual sentence of more than 25 years and availed parole for a period of more than 3 years during his incarceration. He was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people and injuring 31 others in a blast outside the Youth Congress headquarters in Delhi. He was arrested after deportation from Germany and has been in Tihar jail since 1995.

The SAD (Badal) had termed the rejection as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘heinous crime against humanity.’

Responding to allegations of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Kang had blamed Delhi Lieutenant Governor for the rejection of the permanent release of Bhullar. “The lone voice of AAP’s Minister of Jails in Delhi government Kailash Gahlot ardently advocated for Bhullar’s early release, citing grave physical and mental deterioration. Regrettably, in the recently held meeting, SRB overturned this plea with a 6:1 majority, influenced by members reporting to the L-G post the recent Modi Govt’s bill,” Kang had said.

Apart from SRB chairman Kailash Gahlot, other officials on the board from the Delhi government included Delhi Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ashwani Kumar, Delhi Director-General of Prisons Sanjay Baniwal, Principal Secretary (Law, Justice & LA), Bharat Parashar, and Chief Probation Officer, Social Welfare Department Rahul Aggarwal.

Two more members on the board were Special Commissioner of Police (Crime), Delhi Police, Ravindra Singh Yadav and Principal District & Sessions Judge, Karkardooma Courts Delhi, Renu Bhatnagar.

Bhullar was awarded death penalty by a designated TADA court in August 2001 but his capital punishment was commuted to life sentence in 2014. Meanwhile, after being diagnosed with depression, he was shifted to a hospital in Delhi in 2012 and later to an Amritsar hospital in 2015 based on the family’s plea and transferred to the Amritsar Central Jail.