A Petition to Free Davinderpal Singh Bhullar

Whereas, Davinderpal Singh Bhullar has been sentenced to death by hanging in India for the 1993 bombing of an All-India Youth Congress office in New Delhi;

Whereas, the prosecution presented zero evidence against Bhullar and not a single one of the 133 eyewitnesses connected him to this or any crime;

Whereas, his conviction was based solely on a coerced confession under the threat of murder and Bhullar says he was “made to sign on blank pieces of paper, which were later filled by a statement written and typed in by the police, under threat that if he did not sign he would be terminated by the Punjab Police in a false encounter";

Whereas, Bhullar was first denied access to counsel until after being forced to sign his name to blank pieces of paper under the threat of murder; and second, asked to verify the voluntariness of his confession, he was warned that if he failed to vouch for it he would be turned over to Punjab Police who would kill him in a false encounter;

Whereas, these two incidents represent repeated violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a state party, according to Amnesty International, which said, "Such treatment violates the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment set out in Article 7 of the ICCPR and the right to fair trial which includes, as set out in Article 14(3) (g) of the ICCPR, the right not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess guilt";

Whereas, the two Supreme Court of India judges who upheld Bhullar's conviction displayed total contempt for due process of law by claiming that, in reaching a death sentence conviction, proof “beyond reasonable doubt” should be a "guideline, not a fetish" and that procedure is only "a handmaiden and not the mistress of law";

Whereas, Bhullar initially sought political asylum in Germany, but was deported in 1995, which a German court later ruled contravened German law, which forbids deportation of someone facing torture or the death penalty in the receiving country;

Whereas, that German law states that there are "legal obstacles as defined in section 53 of the Aliens Act for a deportation of [Bhullar] to India" under two conditions, namely one, if "the alien is threatened with an individual concrete risk of torture in the country, to which he is to be deported" and two, if "the complainant is prosecuted for offences in India which are threatened with the death penalty";

Whereas, the entire Bhullar family has been assailed by the Indian state, particularly since Indian police visited Bhullar's house in 1991 and, failing to find him there, abducted his father, S. Balwant Singh, and his mother's sister's husband, Manjit Singh Sohi, both of whom were then tortured to death in police custody;

Whereas, it is well-known to other states that the Indian authorities commonly employs the use of torture and extrajudicial murder, as noted in an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) cable to the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, which said that "abuse always takes place in the presence of officers and .. detainees were rarely militants (they are routinely killed)";

Whereas, without any proof of his guilt for any crime, Bhullar has already served nearly two decades in prison, most of it in solitary confinement in torturous conditions;

Whereas, Bhullar is suffering from severe physical and mental illness because of his inhumane treatment;

Therefore, be it resolved that we the undersigned,

1) Respectfully urge the elected officials of all free countries, especially Prime Minister Harper of Canada and President Obama of the United States, to use all possible powers of their good offices to ensure the preservation of Davinderpal Singh Bhullar’s life;

and

2) Demand that India provide for Bhullar's immediate and unconditional release from prison.

The Committee to Free Bhullar info@sikhinformationcentre.org | 1 (888)-551-Sikh (7454) | P.O. Box 392 Lathrop, CA 95330