Headlines
SC to hear Yakub Memon's plea on Monday
New Delhi, July 26 The Supreme Court
will on Monday hear a plea by Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon, who has
sought a stay on his execution set for July 30.
Memon moved the apex court contending that the death warrant for his execution
was issued before he could have exhausted the legal remedies available to him
and when his curative petition was pending consideration by the court.
The apex court on July 21 rejected Memon's curative petition saying it was void
of merit. On the same day, Memon filed a mercy petition before the Maharashtra
governor seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment.
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan come out against the death penalty, saying
Yakub Memon should not be punished for his brother Tiger's crime.
"Hang Tiger. Brother is being hanged for Tiger. Aarrre (Where) is Tiger?
Get Tiger. Get Tiger hang him. Parade him, not his brother," Salman
tweeted on Saturday night, referring to Ibrahim alias Tiger Memon.
However, on Sunday, Salman Khan apologised for his tweet, but said he stood by
what he had said earlier.
"What I said is that Yakub Memon should not hang for him (Tiger). I have
not said or implied that Yakub Memon is innocent. I have complete faith in the
judicial system of our country."
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi also
sparked a row by saying Memon was being hanged because he belonged to a
particular religion while the death sentences of those convicted in the
assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi were commuted to life
imprisonment.
Reacting to this, the BJP on Sunday said efforts were being made to give
communal colour to the death penalty to Memon and asked people not to question
the court verdict.
Memon, in his petition before the apex court, relied on the court's May 27
verdict where it quashed the death warrant issued for the execution of a woman
named Shabnam and her paramour Salim, both convicted for multiple murders of
members of the girl's family, on the ground of it being illegal as due
procedure was not followed.
Quashing the death warrant, the court had held that the "right to live
under article 21 does not end with the confirmation of the death sentence by
the Supreme Court".
Memon and 11 others were slapped with the death penalty by the special TADA
court in July 2007 for the 1993 bomb blasts in which 257 people were killed and
712 were injured.
The apex court by its March 21, 2013 verdict upheld his death sentence while
commuting the death sentence of 10 others (one having died subsequently) to
life imprisonment.
The court on April 9 dismissed Memon's plea for the review of his death
sentence for the second time, as it had earlier dismissed a similar plea
seeking recall of the March 21, 2013 verdict.