New Delhi: In a judgement that will lay precedence for others, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected the mercy petition filed by Punjab militant Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, who was convicted of killing nine people with a car bomb in Delhi in 1993. The apex court order was passed by Justice JS Singhvi, who said, “Devender Pal Singh Bhullar’s mercy plea stands dismissed.” The apex court’s verdict is crucial as it will impact the cases of other death row prisoners like the three men from Tamil Nadu, who were given the death penalty for their role in the assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The apex court decision is also crucial since it has now cleared that a delay in deciding the mercy petitions of death row prisoners cannot be a ground for commuting their punishment to life in prison. Punjab militant Devender Pal Singh Bhullar had filed the mercy petition after he was given the death sentence by the Supreme Court. He had appealed to the President of India for clemency in 2003. However, his appeal that was pending for eight years was rejected in 2011. Bhullat had approached the Supreme Court in 2011, saying that his death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment, because there was an inordinate delay by the President over his plea for clemency.