Supreme Court to hear Yakub Memon's plea for execution of his death sentence

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the plea of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the sole death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, seeking stay of execution of his death sentence scheduled for July 30.

"I have already assigned the bench. The file had come to me. It will come up on Monday," said the Chief Justice of India HL Dattu.

"This is a sensitive matter," the bench, also comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy, said noting that it has been already assigned to a bench headed by Justice AR Dave for July 27.

While senior advocate Raju Ramachandran mentioned the petition for Yakub Memon, another senior counsel T R Andhyarujina appeared for Death Penalty Litigation Clinic, associated with the National Law University Delhi, which has been filing petitions in apex court against the execution of death penalty in different cases.

Ramachandran said there is no time to lose for Memon whose life hangs by a thread.

Andhyarujina said the convict is due to be hanged on coming Thursday at 7 in the morning and sought tagging of the Clinic's plea with that of Yakub.

Memon sought "extra-indulgence" of the apex court for an immediate hearing of his petition saying that "undue haste" was shown to execute him without following the due process of law.

Memon got support from the Clinic that he was not given proper notice of the death warrant proceedings to enable him to get legal assistance.

He alleged that "death warrant proceedings were carried out in Mumbai" while he is in jail in Nagpur and therfore he was not represented through his lawyer.

The petition said the death warrant was issued by the TADA court in Mumbai when his curative petition was already pending in the apex court, "thereby presumptuously pre-determining its negative outcome."

Memon had moved the apex court yesterday seeking stay of execution of his death sentence on the ground that all legal remedies have not been exhausted.

In his petition, Memon said that a lower court's death warrant is illegal as all the legal remedies available to him under the law have not been exhausted and that he has also approached the Maharastra Governor with a plea for mercy.