New Delhi, April 12
The rejection of death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s mercy plea by the Supreme Court will impact 15 cases of death row convicts, including three assassins of Rajiv Gandhi and four aides of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan, who had also sought relief on grounds of “inordinate delay in decision on mercy petition”.

The President had rejected the mercy petitions of the 15 convicts after which they appealed in the courts citing delay. Separately, as of today, nine mercy petitions are pending with the President. “Carrying out the death sentence of several death row convicts in quick succession would be a political gamble with general elections one year away. It remains to be seen how this is done,” said a Home Ministry functionary.

In her petition, Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur cited a delay of 11 years in adjudicating his mercy plea by the President as a ground for seeking commutation of death penalty to life imprisonment.

On April 6, the Supreme Court had stayed the execution of eight persons whose mercy petitions had been rejected by the President. A Bench of Justices P Sathasivam and MY Eqbal stayed the execution of Sonia and her husband Sanjeev, Gurmeet Singh, Praveen Kumar, Sunder Singh, Jafar Ali, Suresh and Ramji on a petition filed by the People's Union for Democratic Rights, a civil rights group. He cited the delay in carrying out the death sentence after the Supreme Court had confirmed it as the main ground for staying the executions.

Seeking relief, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves had cited a delay in deciding the mercy petitions. In the latest case, on April 6, Gonsalves argued that the delay in all these cases ranged from three to 12 years.

Apart from this, the three assassins of Rajiv Gandhi -- Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan -- have also cited delay in carrying out the sentence. Similarly, Veerappan’s four aides — Gnana Prakasam, Simon, Meesakaara Madiah and Bilavendran — had cited delay and on February 18 got an extension on the stay on their hanging.

Now Bhullar’s verdict will impact all these cases. Their cases are at various stages and once decided, states will have to decide the day of hanging.

Besides Bhullar’s case, the case of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins could have political implication. When their mercy petition was rejected by the President in August 2011, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution demanding that the sentence be commuted.