Delhi HC asks 1993 blast convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar to surrender as parole expires

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who was out on parole, to surrender before the jail authorities during the course of the day.

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Bhullar, whose parole was expiring Friday, sought exemption on the ground that he suffered from acute schizophrenia and was under treatment.

Justice Girish Kathpalia said the treatment was available in jail, that too a proper one.

“You surrender,” the judge told Bhullar’s counsel who agreed to withdraw the application seeking exemption from surrender.

The court recorded in its order that after part submissions, his counsel sought to withdraw the plea and assured Bhullar would surrender during the course of the day.

“The application is dismissed as withdrawn,” it held.

Bhullar’s counsel had submitted that his client did not even enter the barracks and was always in the hospital and even when out on parole, he marks his attendance every week in the hospital attached to the jail.

It’s been a case of 30 years behind bars and even the law says for heinous offences, he is entitled for the relief, the counsel said.

The court, however, referred to Bhullar’s plea for premature release pending consideration but said he cannot not surrender.

He has never violated the relief of parole given to him.

Bhullar’s filed an application in his pending petition against the rejection of his premature release.

Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terrorist Bhullar was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people and injuring 31, including then Youth Congress president MS Bitta, in the blast.

He was held guilty for triggering a bomb blast in Delhi in September 1993. He was arrested in the case in 1995.

Bhullar was awarded death penalty by a designated TADA court in August 2001 but his capital punishment was commuted to life sentence by the Supreme Court in 2014. He was shifted to Amritsar Central Jail from Delhi’s Tihar Jail on health grounds in June 2015.