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SFJ to Present Memorandum to UN Secretary General on July 25, 2011

Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) announced that it will approach the United Nations to act on UN General Assembly Resolution 62-149 of 2008 calling for abolition and moratorium on the use of death penalty by intervening to save Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar who has been sentenced to death in India. Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, a former instructor of Guru Nanak Engineering Polytechnic College Ludhiana, Punjab, has been sentenced to death by a split decision of the Supreme Court of India.

A memorandum will be submitted to UN Secretary General on July 25th, 2011 asking intervention in the case of Prof. Bhullar as there is imminent danger that death warrant can be executed against him. A rally to save Professor Bhullar from "Judicial Murder" will also be held between 12 noon to 2 pm in New York City in front of United Nations Headquarters on July 25th, 2011.

United Nations during Sixty Second Session of the General Assembly adopted a resolution 62-149 calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The resolution calls upon all states that maintain the death penalty to completely abolish it reminding that the use of the death penalty undermines human dignity and any miscarriage or failure of justice in the implementation of the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable. Resolution 62-149 was reaffirmed by another resolution 63/168 in the Sixty Third Session of the UN General Assembly.

According to attorney Gurpatwant S. Pannun, legal advisor to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), clause 2(b) of the Resolution 62-149 adopted by the UN General Assembly, requires all states that maintain death penalty to report to the United Nations information relating to the use of Capital Punishment while clause 2(d) requires states like India to establish a moratorium on the execution of death penalty. India stands in violation of Resolution 62-149 by sentencing Professor Bhullar to death and by failing to abolish the death penalty. UN member nations especially EU countries will also be approached to raise the matter of continuous violation of Resolution 62-149 by India in the upcoming UN General Assembly Session, added attorney Pannun.

Attorney Pannun stated that India is not a signatory to UN Convention against Torture and Professor Bhullar has been convicted on the sole basis of a confessional statement given by him during his interrogation through torture and the threat of death. The use of torture to obtain false confessions is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which guarantees due process of law and protection of life to all human beings. Earlier there was only extra-judicial killing of Sikhs but Bhullar's case shows that now Sikhs are also being subjected to 'judicial murder' in India".

The campaign and rally to save Professor Bhullar has the support of World Coalition Against Death Penalty, American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International who have already launched a petition campaign to save Professor Bhullar.