New SC bench to hear Memon’s plea

While Mr Rohatgi was of the view that all judicial remedies available to Yakub got exhausted with dismissal of his curative petition on July 21, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for him, claimed correct procedure was not adopted by the court in dealing with his curative plea.

After Justice Joseph delivered his order, Justice Dave took up the podium again to pronounce the common order addressed to the administration side of the Supreme Court to alert the Chief Justice of India that the current was in disagreement.

Quoting from the Rupa Hurra vs Ashok Hurra case (10 April 2002), the AG said it envisaged only two grounds for a curative petition to be heard, namely, denial of natural justice and an allegation of bias against any of the Judges who heard the case.

In March 2013, the apex court had rejected Memon’s appeal against conviction by TADA court. In addition, Justice Jospeh dropped another hint for Yakub’s counsel by observing, “The petitioner can always move the court challenging the governor’s decision if his pending mercy plea is rejected”.

The petition first came up for hearing on Monday, when the Supreme Court questioned the procedure by which it had dismissed Memon’s curative petition examining his final legal remedy. “The petition will certainly be dismissed by the Supreme Court”, Katju wrote on his Facebook page.

Yakub Memon, who has already spent 22 years in prison, was awarded the death sentence by a Special TADA Court in Mumbai on July 27, 2007 for his role in the blasts, including arranging finances for carrying out the 13 serial explosions which left 257 dead and over 700 injured across the city on March 12, 1993.

Supporters of Memon’s plea said he cooperated with investigating agencies and that he was the only person of several convicted to face the death penalty for the bombings, which targeted landmarks in Mumbai, then known as Bombay.

“Law is not helpless & this court is not powerless to protect right to life” J Jospeh as he cites procedural flaw in judicial process.

A division bench comprising Justices A R Dave and Kurian Joseph asked Rohatgi to present before the court the relevant rules and scope of curative petitions before it decides on Memon’s plea seeking a stay on his execution.

The bench also requested the Chief Justice to constitute an appropriate bench and list the matter for hearing tomorrow.

On July 15, the Maharashtra government had decided to execute Memon on July 30. Now, after the confusion, the case has been referred to a larger bench of the apex court.