The Chief Justice of India has constituted a larger bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Prafulla C Pant and Amitava Roy to decide the destiny of Memon who is the the lone death row convict in 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
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Yakub Memon has pleaded that the death warrant for his execution is illegal because it was issued before he had exhausted every legal option; his curative petition challenging the Supreme Court’s ruling had not been heard then.
Uncertainty for Memon aggravated on Tuesday as Justice Dave dismissed his plea without staying the death warrant while Justice Kurian differed and favoured a stay.
Senior counsel Raju Ramachandran, appearing for Yakub Memon, urged Chief Justice Dattu to grant stay of execution of Memon slated for Thursday. But the curative petition was dismissed by a three-judge Bench of the Chief Justice HL Dattu, TS Thakur and justice Dave.
On Tuesday, Justices Anil Dave and Kurien Joseph gave a split verdict on the petition.
Ramachandran also said that the execution can’t take place on July 30 as it was “beyond the law and the constitution and in flagrant violation of the direction of this court”, noting that the government obtained the death warrant on April 30 from the TADA court while curative petition was filed on May 12.
Memon’s mercy petitions have been rejected by the president and governor “probably due to the gravity of the offence dedicated by the petitioner”, Justice Dave stated in his order. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made it clear that the death sentence would not be deffered unless the governor or Supreme Court orders to do so.
It is not surprising to see convicted criminals like Salman Khan speak out in defense of fellow convicts like Memon, but what has happened to the rest of the people who sign such petitions?
Justice Dave agreed. He said, “If finality is not attained in judicial matters, the courts will be dealing with a flood of litigation”.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi rebutted the submission on procedural aspects pertaining to curative petition, saying “this is not the point raised in the petition”.
Justice Kurian Joseph just smiled and the bench resumed the hearing. However, Justice Joseph observed that such a technicality should stand in the way of justice being done.
“The Supreme Court has taken a decision over the matter and we can not question the law”.
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The governor will decide the mercy petition before July 30.
