Hearing on legal point raised by justice Joseph begins; Yakub's execution may be delayedFormation of curative bench for Memon flawed: SC judge
In an unprecedented move, a Supreme Court (SC) judge on Monday questioned the procedure followed by the apex court itself while dismissing 1993 Mumbai serial blasts death row convict Yakub Memon's curative plea on July 21.
Justice Kurian Joseph raised this question while hearing, along with justice Anil R Dave, the writ petition filed by Memon against the Tada court's death warrant. He clearly stated that SC rules were not followed while constituting the bench to hear Memon's curative plea, the last legal remedy for a convict.
Although the court declined to stay the execution, hearing on the legal point raised by justice Joseph may take a few days, leading to delay in the execution scheduled for July 30.
In a jam-packed courtroom, with lawyers, media persons and other litigants eagerly waiting for the outcome of Memon's fresh plea for relief, justice Joseph repeatedly asked, "Why the curative plea was not circulated among all the judges who had heard Memon's review petition, as mandated by the rules."
During an hour-long hearing, justice Joseph referred to the apex court's 2002 judgment in the Rupa Ashok Hurrah case, which opened the last legal remedy "Curative". He also quoted 48 (4) of the SC Rules, which said all the judges who had heard the review should be made part of the curative exercise. Justice Joseph said he himself and justice J Chelameswar were not included in the bench which heard Memon's curative plea.
Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi, however, submitted that as per the rules, the curative plea should be circulated among three most senior judges of the court and among the judges who rejected the convict's appeal against the high court verdict, if they were not retired.
To this, justice Joseph asked if the judges were not available in this case, was it not all the more required that the judges who dismissed the review should be part of the bench to hear the curative plea. Only justice Dave, who headed the review bench, was included in the three-member curative bench. Chief Justice of India (CJI) HL Dattu and justice TS Thakur were the other two members of the bench.
Justice Joseph termed his point as a "weighty query" and asked Rohatgi, Yakub's lawyer Raju Ramachandran, intervener National Law University (NLU) advocate TR Andhyarujina and senior advocate Anand Grover to address the legal issue on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, opposing Memon's new plea, Rohatgi submitted that his mercy petitions before the President and Governor of Maharashtra were already rejected. He urged the court to dismiss this one too.
Memon's lawyer Ramachandran submitted that the death warrant of the Tada court was contrary to the law. In his argument, he said the warrant was issued on April 30 but the state government communicated it to Memon on July 13, thus giving him only 17 days to prepare himself legally.
Andhyarujina informed the court that the intelligentsia did not want Memon to hang before exhausting all his legal remedies and that a petition signed by around 100 eminent persons from all walks of life had been submitted to President Pranab Mukherjee.
A little over 20 years after 13 co-ordinated blasts rocked Mumbai, killing 257 and injuring over 700, Memon has been the lone convict to be awarded capital punishment.
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