India hangs only man sentenced to die for 1993 Mumbai blasts

Rohatgi stated there needed to be “some finality” within the case.

Some papers have taken the debate beyond Memon’s execution, saying India needs to abolish the death penalty.

In an unprecedented move, India’s Supreme Court heard his last-minute appeal in a special hearing held in the middle of the night just hours before his scheduled hanging.

Mukherjee also rejected a July 26 petition signed by more than 300 eminent Indians, including former Supreme Court judges, senior lawyers and politicians, calling for mercy. “I only hope that Yakub Memon will have a dignified death”.

“There is no question of victory or elation”.

The March 1993 blasts targeted a dozen sites, including the Bombay Stock Exchange, the offices of national carrier Air India and a luxury hotel.

The court room was packed with lawyers and journalists at the early hours to attend the hearing.

According to the Indian prosecution team, those assaults were ordered by the local underworld in revenge for the demolition of a 16th century mosque in northern India by Hindu zealots.

“You must understand that at some point of time, some finality has to come”. Several people, including Bollywood movie star Sanjay Dutt, have been accused of plotting or helping the conspirators. A total of 100 people have been convicted of involvement in the blasts. Apparently, in the same year i.e, 2005, more than 1,200 death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. “The plea is dismissed”, said Justice Dipak Misra, writing the judgement for the bench. “You have to differentiate between this person, who has surrendered before the court and the other people who are in Pakistan”, Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member Brinda Karat told Indo-Asian News Service Wednesday.

Police were also stationed at the various places in the city where the bombs had exploded.

“Saddened by news that our Government has hanged a human being”.

Yakub Menon was hanged but why not Rajiv Gandhi’s killers or 1993 Delhi bomb blast case convict and Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar?

It was the year 2007 when most death sentences (186) were awarded, followed by 164 in 2005.

For almost a decade, India had an unofficial moratorium on executions. A constable who executed 26/11 attacks convict Ajmal Kasab at Pune’s Yerawada jail in 2012 carried out the execution, while the rope was sourced from outside.

Memon and two of his brothers were convicted in 2006 by a specially-designated court using controversial anti-terror legislation that was introduced after the 1993 attacks and is no longer on the statute books. Their bodies were not handed to their families, but were buried inside prison compounds.