)
The Supreme Court Monday commuted the death sentence of 1993 terror convict Devenderpal Singh Bhullar to life imprisonment on the grounds of inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition and on the grounds of mental illness.
The apex court bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, Justice R.M. Lodha, Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice S.J. Mukhopadyaya while commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment referred to the apex court's Jan 21, 2014 verdict which said that inordinate, unexplained or unreasonable delay in deciding mercy petition was dehumanizing to death row convict and was a ground for commuting death sentence to life imprisonment.
