Delhi Chief Minister called to release Sikh imprisoned for 27 years on “judicial error”

Sikhs across the world are calling for Delhi’s Chief Minister to free Professor Davinderpal (also spelled as Devinder Pal) Singh Bhullar, after the revered Sikh political prisoner of 27 years was put up for release.

The professor of engineering was extradited from Germany to India in 1995 after attempting to reach Canada to seek asylum from India’s state facilitated Sikh genocide. After being given the death sentence based on a “judicial error” according to his prosecutor, his situation created an international Sikh community campaign for intervention, leading to his plight being raised by MPs in Canada, Australia and the UK.

According to panthic (Sikh community/path focused) legal advocate Jaspal Singh Manjhpur (via respected Punjab based Sikh news outlet Sikh Siyasat), “all legal barriers in his release are removed” and Professor Bhullar can be freed immediately with a “formal release order” from Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi party. The change in Professor Bhullar’s situation comes from an order from the government of India as he approaches 30 years imprisoned.

The former lecturer was imprisoned under the much criticised TADA law, which Amnesty international said was “grossly misused” to target dissenters of India’s countless human rights breaches. Professor Bhullar, who like all Sikh political prisoners was labelled as a Khalistan (free Sikh homeland movement) supporter to justify his targeting, was convicted of involvement in a bomb blast based on claims he had signed a confession, which only had his thumb-print on it. Sikh activists state Professor Bhullar was targeted after becoming vocal about the disappearances (fake encounter murders) of his students and the subsequent targeting of his own family in an attempt to silence him.

Protests in support of him continued throughout his sentence due to news of his torture and subsequent mental deterioration whilst imprisoned. Click here to read more on all the circumstances around his much contested detainment via the National Sikh Youth Federation.

Worldwide protests against Professor Bhullar’s planned execution in 2013 saw India change his sentence to life in prison. Six years later on Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s 550th GurPurab (Guru’s day, referring to birth celebrations), India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a list of Sikh political prisoners that were to be released which included Professor Bhullar. However, all remain incarcerated. The hashtag #KejriwalReleaseBhullarNow is now being used to pressure the Delhi CM, who himself wrote a letter to Modi calling for clemency for Professor Bhullar in 2014.

More information on this story will be released as the campaign for Professor Bhullar’s freedom continues.