German Prez took up Bhullar case with PM the day SC upheld his death penalty

“Germany has followed the case of Bhullar closely and has asked India on a number of occasions to relive him from the death penalty on humanitarian reasons. On April 12,2013,the day the Supreme Court of India refused to relief Prof Bhullar from the death penalty,the Federal President,Joachim Gauck,talked to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in order to plead his case,” Wnendt said in his reply.

He said,the government of the Federal Republic of Germany is strongly against the death penalty and has encouraged the Indian government on numerous occasions to return to the moratorium on the death penalty.

“Germany will continue to talk to India on the highest level about this (Bhullar) case,” Wnendt’s letter reads.

Notably,Bhullar,while trying to escape to Canada via Germany to be with his wife,was caught at Franfurt airport with a fake passport in December 1994. He applied for asylum in Germany,but turning down his request,the country deported him to India in January 1995. However,in October 1997,a Frankfurt court termed the deportation illegal under German law,which prohibited deportation of someone facing the death penalty in the recipient country.

After rejection of mercy petition of Bhullar by then President Pratibha Patil in 2011,the then German President reportedly in a communication to Patil had regretted deporting Bhullar to India.