Supreme Court dismisses Yakub Memon’s plea

NEW DELHI: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court has rejected 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon's plea seeking a reconsideration of his death sentence.

The apex court said that there was no lapse in the curative petition.
Senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam said, "the SC has rejected all the contentions raised by Yakub Memon. The Maharashtra Governor and the President will have to take the decision on the mercy petition today itself."
Memon has filed a fresh plea with the president on Wednesday, seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Governor rejected his mercy plea today.
According to the TADA court order, 53-year-old Memon is to be hanged at a jail in Nagpur for his role in the deadly terror attack in which 257 people were killed in blasts at various landmarks across Mumbai.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice HL Dattu set up a larger bench after Justices Anil Dave and Kurien Joseph gave a split verdict on Yakub’s petition.

Dismissing Memon's petition, Justice Dave said: "Submissions made about the curative petition do not appeal to me as they are irrelevant and there is no substance in them. In these circumstances, the writ petition is dismissed."

Justice Kurien Joseph, however, said that there had been a clear violation of procedure and "such technicality should not stand in the way to protect the life of a person."
Memon had sought a stay of his death sentence after the apex court had on July 21 rejected his mercy petition.

He moved the apex court contending that the death warrant for his execution was issued before he could exhaust the legal remedies available to him. He also sought that his death sentence be stayed by the apex court.

Yakub's brother Tiger Memon, the main accused along with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, has been missing since 1993.