Devender Pal Singh Bhullar & Anr vs State Of Nct Of Delhi

3. The campaign for the abolition of capital punishment led to the introduction of a Bill in the Lok Sabha in 1956 but the same was rejected on 23.11.1956. After two years, a similar resolution was introduced in the Rajya Sabha but, after considerable debate, the same was withdrawn. Another attempt was made in this regard in 1961 but the resolution moved in the Rajya Sabha was rejected in 1962. Notwithstanding these reversals, the votaries of ‘no capital punishment’ persisted with their demand. The Law Commission of India examined the issue from various angles and recommended that death penalty should be retained in the statute book. This is evinced from the 35th Report of the Law Commission, the relevant portions of which are extracted below:

9. We shall now advert to the facts necessary for disposing the above noted writ petitions, one of which was jointly filed by Shri Devender Pal Singh Bhullar (hereinafter referred to as ‘the petitioner’), who was convicted by the designated Court, Delhi for various offences under TADA and IPC and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. Later on, the Court accepted the oral request made by learned senior counsel for the petitioners and deleted the name of petitioner No.2 from the array of parties. The other writ petition has been filed by the wife of the petitioner and the third has been filed by Justice on Trial Trust, a non- Government organization registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950.

9.1 After obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Engineering from Guru Nanak Engineering College, Ludhiana in 1990, the petitioner joined as a teacher in the same college. He was suspected to be involved in the terrorist activities in Punjab and it is said that he was responsible for an attempt made on the life of Shri Sumedh Singh Saini, the then Senior Superintendent of Police, Chandigarh on 29.8.1991. Shri Saini’s car was blasted by remote control resulting in the death of some of his security guards. The petitioner was also suspected to be responsible for an attack on the car cavalcade of the then President of Youth Congress Maninderjit Singh Bitta, in Delhi on 10.9.1993. As a result of the blast caused by using 40 kgs. RDX, 9 persons were killed and 17 were injured. Apprehending his arrest and possible elimination by the police as is alleged to have been done in the case of his father, uncle and friend Balwant Singh Multani, the petitioner decided to go to Canada. However, on the basis of information supplied by the Indian authorities, he was taken into custody at Frankfurt Airport and deported to India. He was charged with offences under Sections 419, 420, 468 and 471 IPC, Section 12 of the Passports Act, 1967 and Sections 2, 3 and 4 TADA. The designated Court, Delhi found him guilty and sentenced him to death. The appeal filed by him was dismissed by this Court vide judgment titled Devender Pal Singh v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2002) 5 SCC 234. The review petition filed by the petitioner was also dismissed by this Court vide order dated 17.12.2002.

9.3 During the pendency of the petition filed under Article 72, the petitioner filed Curative Petition (Crl.) No. 5 of 2003, which was dismissed by this Court on 12.3.2003.

36. The facts of Daya Singh’s case were that the petitioner had been convicted and sentenced to death for murdering Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon. The sentence was confirmed by the High Court and the special leave petition was dismissed by this Court. After rejection of the review petition, he filed mercy petitions before the Governor and the President of India, which were also rejected. The writ petition filed by his brother Lal Singh was dismissed along with Triveniben’s case. Thereafter, he filed another mercy petition before the Governor of Haryana in November, 1988. The matter remained pending for next two years. Finally, he sent a letter from Alipore Central Jail, Calcutta to the Registry of this Court for commutation of the sentence of death into life imprisonment. This Court took cognizance of the fact that the petitioner was in jail since 1972 and substituted the sentence of imprisonment for life in place of the death sentence.

III The petition shall in the first instance: —

(a) in the case of States be sent to the State Government concerned for consideration and orders of the Governor (Sadar-i-Riyasat in the case of Jammu and Kashmir). If after consideration it is rejected it shall be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India. Ministry of Home Affairs. If it is decided to commute the sentence of death, the petition addressed to the President of India shall be withheld and an intimation of the fact shall be sent to the petitioner;

Note:—The petition made in a case where the sentence of death is for an offence against any law exclusively relatable to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends, shall not be considered by the State Government but shall forthwith be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.

IV. If the convict submits the petition after the period prescribed by Instruction I above, it will be within the discretion of the Chief Commissioner or the Government of the State concerned, as the case may be, to consider the petition and to postpone execution pending such consideration and also to withhold or not to withhold the petition addressed to the President. In the following circumstances, however, the petition shall be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs:

When the petition is forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, the execution shall simultaneously be postponed pending receipt of orders of the President thereon.

V. In all cases in which a petition for mercy from a convict under sentence of death is to be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, the Lieut.- Governor/Chief Commissioner/ Administrator or the Government of the State concerned, as the case may be. shall forward such petition as expeditiously as possible along with the records of the case and his or its observations in respect of any of the grounds urged in the petition. In the case of States, the Government of the State concerned shall, if it had previously rejected any petition addressed to itself or the Governor/Sadar-i-Riyasat, also forward a brief statement of the reasons for the rejection of the previous petition or petitions.

VI. Upon the receipt of the orders of the President, an acknowledgment shall be sent to the Secretary to the Government of India. Ministry of Home Affairs, immediately in the manner hereinafter provided. In the case of Assam and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, all orders will be communicated by telegram and the receipt thereof shall be acknowledged by telegram. In the case of other States and Union Territories, if the petition is rejected, the orders will be communicated by express letter and receipt thereof shall be acknowledged by express letter. Orders commuting the death sentence will be communicated by express letter in the case of Delhi and by telegram in all other cases and receipt thereof shall be acknowledged by express letter or telegram, as the case may be.

24. The above reproduced instructions give a clear indication of the seriousness with which the authorities entrusted with the task of accepting the mercy petitions are required to process the same without any delay.

40. We are also of the view that the rule enunciated in Sher Singh’s case, Triveniben’s case and some other judgments that long delay may be one of the grounds for commutation of the sentence of death into life imprisonment cannot be invoked in cases where a person is convicted for offence under TADA or similar statutes. Such cases stand on an altogether different plane and cannot be compared with murders committed due to personal animosity or over property and personal disputes. The seriousness of the crimes committed by the terrorists can be gauged from the fact that many hundred innocent civilians and men in uniform have lost their lives. At times, their objective is to annihilate their rivals including the political opponents. They use bullets, bombs and other weapons of mass killing for achieving their perverted political and other goals or wage war against the State. While doing so, they do not show any respect for human lives. Before killing the victims, they do not think even for a second about the parents, wives, children and other near and dear ones of the victims. The families of those killed suffer the agony for their entire life, apart from financial and other losses. It is paradoxical that the people who do not show any mercy or compassion for others plead for mercy and project delay in disposal of the petition filed under Article 72 or 161 of the Constitution as a ground for commutation of the sentence of death. Many others join the bandwagon to espouse the cause of terrorists involved in gruesome killing and mass murder of innocent civilians and raise the bogey of human rights.

Question No.(d):

If upon taking an overall global view of all the circumstances in the light of the aforesaid propositions and taking into account the answers to the questions posed by way of the test for the rarest of rare cases, the circumstances of the case are such that death sentence is warranted, the court would proceed to do so.”

43. The finding recorded by the majority on the issue of the petitioner’s guilt is conclusive and, as held in Triveniben’s case and other cases, while deciding the issue whether the sentence of death awarded to the accused should be converted into life imprisonment, the Court cannot review such finding.

46. Though the documents produced by Shri K.T.S. Tulsi do give an indication that on account of prolonged detention in jail after his conviction and sentence to death, the petitioner has suffered physically and mentally, the same cannot be relied upon for recording a finding that the petitioner’s mental health has deteriorated to such an extent that the sentence awarded to him cannot be executed.

47. Before parting with the judgment, we consider it necessary to take cognizance of a rather disturbing phenomena. The statistics produced by the learned Additional Solicitor General show that between 1950 and 2009, over 300 mercy petitions were filed of which 214 were accepted by the President and the sentence of death was commuted into life imprisonment. 69 petitions were rejected by the President. The result of one petition is obscure. However, about 18 petitions filed between 1999 and 2011 remained pending for a period ranging from 1 year to 13 years. A chart showing the details of such petitions is annexed with the Judgment as Schedule ‘A’. The particulars contained in Schedule ‘A’ give an impression that the Government and the President’s Secretariat have not dealt with these petitions with requisite seriousness. We hope and trust that in future such petitions will be disposed of without unreasonable delay.

48. For the reasons stated above, we hold that the petitioners have failed to make out a case for invalidation of the exercise of power by the President under Article 72 of the Constitution not to accept the prayer for commutation of the sentence of death into life imprisonment. The writ petitions are accordingly dismissed.