Decode Politics: Why the case of life convict Davinderpal Singh Bhullar continues to be a hot button issue in Punjab?

THE POLITICS over the fate of Khalistani activist and TADA convict Davinderpal Singh Bhullar, who has been in jail since 1995, has begun afresh, with the Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party trading charges over the latest rejection of his appeal for premature release by the Sentence Review Board of New Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

A professor of mechanical engineering, Bhullar (58) was sentenced to death in August 2001 for a 1993 bomb blast outside the Youth Congress office in New Delhi, which was apparently meant to target the then Youth Congress chief M S Bitta. and left nine dead and 31 injured. In March 2014, his death sentence was commuted to life by the Supreme Court.

While he has been lodged in Tihar Jail since 1995, but allowed out on parole for periods amounting to more than three years. After being diagnosed with depression, he was shifted to an Amritsar hospital in 2015, and later transferred to Amritsar Central Jail for a while.

* How many times has Bhullar sought premature release?

In 2011, the then President of India, Pratibha Patil, had rejected his mercy petition. Since then, it is the seventh time Bhullar’s petition for premature release has been declined — after rejections twice in 2018, once in 2019, and thrice in 2020.

In 2019, the Centre had given concurrence for his premature release during the 550th anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev. But his release was deferred thrice in 2022. Now, it has been rejected by the Tihar board, which is the competent authority in his case.

The Akalis, who have taken up the case of all political prisoners (including pro-Khalistan activists), are blaming Kejriwal and the AAP, as the chairperson of the Tihar Sentence Review Board is Delhi Jails Minister Kailash Gehlot. On Tuesday,