Capt on Bhullar: Killing a man wont solve problem

Shiromani Akali Dal has sought the Prime Ministers intervention and urged for a sympathetic view in the matter

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After sad sought the PMs intervention in showing mercy to Khalistan militant Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar,former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday favoured commuting his death sentence to life in prison.

President Pratibha Patil on May 26 rejected the mercy petition of Bhullar,a member of the Khalistan Liberation Force KLF.

I feel killing a man is not going to solve the problem. By killing a man you cant solve the problem, Amarinder,who is also the president of the Punjab Congress,told reporters here.

With Punjab set to have Assembly elections early next year,Amarinder said that his views were in his personal capacity and not that of the party. While asserting that there was no doubt about the crime committed by Bhullar,Amarinder maintained that it was his personal view,and said that let him Bhullar stay in jail forever and give him life sentence.

He pointed out that Bhullar has already spent 10 years in jail,of which the militant spent eight years under death row.

These factors should have been taken into consideration while taking a final decision on his mercy petition,he said.

I cannot comment on other cases. The matters are sub judice, he said,when asked about his stance on similar other cases.

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He said that in Bhullars case the judicial process had been completed.

On SAD seeking the Prime Ministers intervention,Amarinder Singh said he was not aware about it.

In a statement released on behalf of party patron and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as well as president and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal,the SAD leadership said the Prime Minister should personally see that the highest norms of jurisprudence,legal precedents and issues of statesmanship are kept firmly in view in the matter and a sympathetic view taken. This,the statement added,would be an act of grace which will ensure that the atmosphere of acrimony,suspicion and estrangement between the Sikhs and the Centre is not vitiated any further.

Signatories to the statement SAD secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and general secretaries Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal cited a Supreme Court judgment in a similar case involving the state of Orissa where some Christians accused of engaging in conversions were murdered. The court had commuted the death sentence of the accused to life imprisonment in view of the religious and emotional factors which led to the crime.