New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS): The Supreme Court Wednesday said it will decide on pleas for commuting death sentences to life imprisonment on the grounds of delay purely on the basis of law without being influenced by politics.

"If there are 20 people sentenced to death, then ... some must have the support of some group or other... some have no godfather. How do we deal with this?" Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya said while hearing a petition by Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who is on death row, and his wife Navneet Kaur.

Bhullar's hearing seeking commutation of his death sentence to life term on the grounds of inordinate delay in deciding on his mercy plea will now come up for hearing Oct 18.

He was sentenced to death for his involvement in the 1993 car bomb blast at the Youth Congress office here.

The observation assumes significance in the wake of the Tamil Nadu assembly passing a resolution seeking the commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassins.