DEATH PENALTY IN INDIA

Early day motion 631, tabled 30 January 2003 by Rob Marris (Labour). Signed by 75 members.

That this House notes with dismay the death sentence passed in India on Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar, whom the German Appeal Court has subsequently declared should not have been deported from Germany; further notes that the conviction is based on a confession which the condemned man has retracted, as he says it was obtained after torture in India; and asks the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs promptly to communicate to the President of India the grave concern felt in the United Kingdom on this issue and to urge the President both to exercise clemency by commuting the sentence in this case and to demonstrate India's commitment to human rights by abolishing the death penalty.

Signatures by party: Labour 35, Liberal Democrat 32, Labour/Co-operative 4, Conservative 2, Plaid Cymru 1, UUP 1.