The 1993 blasts, a series of 13 bomb explosions at prime areas in India’s financial capital of Mumbai, were the deadliest terror attack in the country.
Advertisement
Raman was “disturbed” that the prosecution failed notify the court of “mitigating circumstances” under which Memon cooperated and persuaded other members of his family to leave Pakistan and surrender to Indian authorities and said he was concerned that the intelligence agencies had reneged on its promises.
Grover said a death row convict is entitled to 14 days reprieve after rejection of mercy plea for various purposes.
Some Twitter users are also speaking in favour of abolishing the death penalty in India.
“For many Mumbaikars, Yakub Abdul Razak Memon’s hanging Thursday was justice that was a long time coming”, writes one blogger in the Wall St. Journal.
Following this, all TV channels voluntarily dissuaded from telecasting the funeral procession and the last rites. And while media was gagged, the funeral was captured on scores of cellphone cameras.
He was hanged to death shortly before 7 am in the Nagpur Central jail on his 53rd birthday. His family took his body to Mumbai from Nagpur hours later, and thousands of people gathered outside the cemetery for the funeral.
Hundreds of security personnel lined the Mahim neighbouhood where the Memons live and at the burial ground. The death sentence of 11 others was commuted to life.
Yakub Memon – who wake up at 3:30am – was permitted a warm bath and was provided with a set of fresh clothes, hours ahead of his scheduled hanging.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam also said, “Once the president decides the second mercy petition, law will take its course”.
The legal manoeuvre followed an order of a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court yesterday upholding the death warrant issued by a TADA court against Memon on April 30 for his execution today.
Yakub Memon’s body reached Mumbai where he will buried at Bada Kabristan. India’s attorney general argued Memon was misusing the justice system by filing repeated mercy petitions.
The Bombay Stock Exchange, the offices of national carrier Air India and a luxury hotel were among about a dozen targets of the March 1993 blasts.
The motivation was said to have been revenge for the destruction of a 16th century Muslim holy site by a mob of Hindu nationalists.
The demolition sparked religious riots in many parts of the country, leaving more than 800 people dead, majority Muslims.
His brother, Tiger Memon, is widely seen as having been the mastermind behind the attacks, alongside gangland boss Dawood Ibrahim. A total of 100 people have been convicted. He returned a year later to face trial. The judgments began in late 2006.
Police officials told that Memon’s family is likely to arrive in the city till 1 pm.
“It’s extremely sad that India has gone ahead, we had been hoping India will now call for a moratorium,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director for Human Rights Watch.
July 1999: Memon writes to Supreme Court seeking relief from the case. But it has carried out only three executions in the last decade, all in terrorism cases.
Advertisement
Aakar Patel, executive director of Amnesty global India, condemned the execution. That ended in November 2012 with the execution of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
