A delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal will meet the President to seek his “immediate and effective personal intervention” to secure the release of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who is serving a life sentence in Amritsar Central Jail after being convicted in the Delhi bomb blast case of 1993.

Addressing a Press conference, an advisor to the SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Harcharan Singh Bains said the party has sought time from the President to request his intervention for immediate release of Bhullar who was sentenced to death by a designated TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) court in 2001 before the Supreme Court commuted his sentence.

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Asked whether SAD’s demand for Bhullar’s release was linked to the Assembly polls in Punjab, Bains said in the past ten years, the SAD has met different Presidents and Prime Ministers with the same demand. “There were no election going on in Punjab at that time,” he added.

Five-time former Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday called for the immediate release of Bhullar “in the larger interest of consolidating peace and communal harmony in Punjab,”

Badal urged the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not to allow a communal bias or political or electoral opportunism to dictate his decision and refusal to grant immediate clearance for Bhullar’s release.

Badal also drew Delhi CM’s attention to the serious health complications Bhullar is facing and said even the basic humanitarian concern, apart from just legal considerations, should compel you to act expeditiously and positively in this case.

The Akali stalwart said the release of Bhullar “will boost this sentiment of peace and brotherhood among communities in Punjab as it would help in mitigating the lingering sense of injustice against Bhullar, ”.

“I really don’t know why the Delhi Chief Minister is not allowing justice to be delivered to Bhullar even after the latter has already suffered long years of laceration and served more time in jail than the full tenure of sentence. There is no legal, judicial or moral ground for keeping the long lacerated Bhullar behind the bars now…, ” he said.