New Delhi: Even as a section of the intelligentsia and the public protest against the death sentence handed down to Yakub Memon, the brother of the main accused, Tiger Memon, in the 1993 Mumbai Blasts, India’s top court referred a final plea by Yakub Memon to suspend his execution over his role in the 1993 Mumbai bombings, to a larger bench of judges.
The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, consisting of Justices Dave and Kurian has differed whether his plea should be accepted and the matter heard accordingly. It was only last week, the Supreme Court had rejected a plea for mercy, paving the way for Memon’s execution on Thursday July 30, and preparations were on going. Memon then made a last-ditch appeal to the court to suspend his execution, saying the authorities had not followed legal procedures in issuing the warrant for his death.
Memon, a chartered accountant, was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special court in Mumbai, which found, he played a key role in the bombing conspiracy. Yakub Memon is being held in a prison in the western city of Nagpur.
The serial blasts killed 257 people and were allegedly to avenge the killing of Muslims in riots a few months earlier. Another 713 were wounded in the bomb blasts in India’s financial capital, then called Bombay.
The new development comes days after a chorus of protest asking for the suspension of Memon’s death sentence.
Politicians, social activists, journalists and lawyers had urged President Pranab Mukherjee to commute the sentence and “spare him from the noose of the death for a crime that was master-minded by someone else to communally divide India”.
Bollywood star Salman Khan also tweeted supporting Memon, but deleted his tweets later.
Memon’s brother, Tiger Memon, is believed to have played an instrumental role in carrying out the attacks. He is absconding.
India has not abolished the death penalty, but India is not a country that is trigger happy. Only three executions have been carried out since 1995, and this includes Afzal Guru in 2013, for the 2001 Parliament attack, and Ajmal Kasab for the Mumbai attacks of 26/11.
