Bhullar can now hope for an early end to his prison life. The SC Bench, which included Justices RM Lodha, HL Dattu and SJ Mukhopadhaya, did not specify in the brief eight-page verdict that Bhullar would have to remain in jail for the rest of his life. This means he is entitled to sentence remissions, given on a regular basis by concerned state governments, Delhi in his case.

Arrested in January 1995 following his deportation by Germany for his role in the September 10, 1993 bomb attack in Delhi, Bhullar was sentenced to death on August 25, 2001 by a trial court, set up here under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.

Today’s SC verdict came on a curative petition filed by Bhullar’s wife, Navneet Kaur, following rejection of their earlier pleas in the form a review petition and a writ petition. Rejecting their pleas, another SC Bench had ruled on April 12, 2013 that there was no question of showing any sympathy for TADA convicts, either on the basis of mental status or mercy plea delays.

Disagreeing with the reasoning in the 2013 verdict, the SC today quoted Constitution Bench judgments to rule that “there is no good reason to disqualify all TADA cases as a class for relief on account of delay in the execution of death sentence.” All death penalties were awarded on the principle of “rarest of rare cases” and as such there could not be further classification to exclude terrorists.

Kaur, who used to attend earlier court hearings regularly, was not present in the courtroom today when the CJI pronounced the verdict.

The SC also took into account the Centre’s stand that the principles of mercy plea delays and mental condition would have to be extended to Bhullar.

• The Bench reduced Bhullar’s sentence mainly for two reasons: he has gone insane due to 19 years of incarceration and there was an “unexplained/inordinate” eight-year delay in the disposal of his mercy plea
• Bhullar can hope for an early end to his prison life as the Bench did not specify he would have to remain in jail for the rest of his life
• This means he is entitled to sentence remissions, given on a regular basis by state governments (Delhi in this case)
• Bhullar was convicted and awarded the death penalty for triggering a blast in New Delhi in September 1993 that killed nine persons and injured 25, including then Youth Congress president MS Bitta

The SC verdict has reinforced the confidence of the Sikh community in the judicial system. Now he (Bhullar) should be set free as he has already served 19 years behind bars.

Avtar Singh Makkar, SGPC president

The Congress leadership has connived to weaken the case. It has, in fact, honoured Bhullars’ lawyers — Kapil Sibal and KTS Tulsi — making one a Cabinet Minister and the other an RS member.

MS Bitta, AIATF chief