22 years later: The lone hanging for the 1993 blasts in Mumbai
New Delhi/Mumbai : Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the lone death row convict in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts — which left 257 persons dead — will be hanged, possibly on July 30, his birthday. His family members have been informed about the date and time of execution, which is the procedure.
The decks were cleared for hanging after the Supreme Court dismissed a curative petition, the last legal remedy available to Yakub to avoid execution of death sentence.
Yakub Memon is the only convict whose death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court: The sentence of the other 10 people convicted for the blasts had been commuted to life in prison. President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected his mercy petition in May 2014.
A three judge bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu on Tuesday rejected Memon’s plea, saying that the grounds raised by him do not fall within the principles laid down by the apex court in 2002 for deciding curative petitions.
Yakub had fled to Pakistan after the blasts but decided to return to India in 1994, professing his innocence.
He was detained shortly afterwards he arrived from Kathmandu at Delhi airport in circumstances that remain unclear: he had said he turned himself in, but police claimed an arrest. Yakub had further claimed he was stricken with remorse and wanted to surrender. Memon, who completed master’s degrees in English Literature and political science in jail, had challenged his death sentence on the grounds that while he could be held guilty of conspiracy, he was not involved in executing the blasts that led to death of people.
Later, in the curative petition, Memon had claimed he was suffering from schi- zophrenia since 1996 and has remained behind bars for nearly 20 years. He had sought commutation of death penalty contending that a convict cannot be awarded life term and the extreme penalty simultaneously for the same offence.
The apex court, however, said, “The petitioner has raised certain grounds in the curative petition which do not fall within the principles laid down in the case of Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra….So, the curative petition stands dismissed.”
The Supreme Court, while upholding Memon’s death sentence, a chartered accountant by profession, had described him as the “driving spirit” behind the carnage that followed the communal riots of 1992.
Yakub was arrested on August 6, 1994 when he arrived at Delhi Airport from Khatmandu. He had claimed he felt remorse and wanted to surrender.
Last ploy
Mumbai : Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon, whose curative petition was rejected by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, has filed another mercy petition, this time addressed to Maharashtra Governor Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao. President Pranab Mukherjee has already rejected one such petition.
“I have given Yakub Memon information regarding his curative petition being rejected. Now he has filed his mercy petition through the jailer to the Governor,” said Anil Gedam, Memon’s lawyer.
The move comes hours after the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected his curative petition, the last legal remedy available to avoid execution of death sentence.
Once best CA awardee to hang for terror
