Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Devender Pal Singh Bhullar,a former engineering college lecturer on death row,has been suffering a slow death in his 7×9 feet prison cell of the past 10 years,his wife said in an application filed in the Supreme Court on Friday.
Navneet Kaurs application talks about the dehumanising act of making her husband wait for more than 5,700 days on the death row without a word on his mercy petition. Out of the total 24 hours in a day,he spends almost 22 hours in his 7 x 9 feet cell,suffering a slow death as a condemned prisoner in the special cell No- 2 of Tihar jail No – 3 since 25th Aug 2001,the day he was convicted, said Kaur,who is fighting the case from Canada.
Kaurs application starts with a brief narrative about her recent visit to the psychiatric hospital where Bhullar was treated.
When I met him last time at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences,I found him to be quiet,withdrawn and unwilling to entertain any conversation except a smile. His condition has continued to deteriorate in post-conviction period since the year 2003, she said in the application.
Earlier I thought he was only suffering from hypertension and arthritis but now I realise that the psychotic symptoms with suicidal tendencies are a by-product of suffering a slow death on account of being a condemned prisoner since 2001.
The President rejected Bhullars mercy petition,pending since 2003,on May 25,2011.
Kaur wants the Supreme Court to stay the Presidents order until her two questions are decided: One,whether it was injustice to make a death row convict wait for so long? Two,will it be within the parameters of law to execute her husband in his current mentally retarded condition.
Execution of a mentally retarded prisoner is considered to be cruel and inhuman and should be deemed to be prohibited under Article 21 of Constitution of India, the application,filed by senior advocate KTS Tulsi,said. She also asked whether the court would commute Bhullars death penalty to life imprisonment.
Bhullar was awarded the death penalty for the 1993 bomb attack on the cavalcade of Youth Congresss M S Bittas in Delhi in which nine security men were killed.
