The Supreme Court rejected the mercy petition filed by terrorist Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, who was convicted of killing nine people in Delhi in 1993 through a car bomb blast. President Dr. Pratibha Patil had already rejected his mercy plea in 2011.
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Bhullar was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2003. But his clemency petition was pending with the President for eight year. In 2011, the President rejected his mercy plea. But, Bhullar approached the SC in 2011, arguing his death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment, as there was an inordinate delay by the President over his clemency plea. The apex court set a precedent by rejecting his arguments.
The apex court verdict said, “Petitioners have failed to make out a case for commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment on grounds of delay, hence Devender Pal Singh Bhullar’s mercy plea stands dismissed.”