Supreme Court agrees to hear Yakub Memon's review plea

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the execution of the death sentence of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Razzak Memon and issued notices on his petition seeking an open court hearing of his plea for a review of the death sentence.

A three-judge bench headed by justice TS Thakur issued notices to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the state of Maharashtra and sought their response to Memon's plea within four weeks.

Memon sought a revival of his review plea that was previously dismissed, citing a recent judgment of a constitution bench that allowed review petitions that had been dismissed but the death sentence has not been executed so far, to be reopened within one month of the judgment.

On September 2, a five-judge constitution bench expanded the scope of Article 21 (right to life) in the case of death convicts, saying that henceforward all review pleas would be heard by a three-judge bench in an open court.

Memon's counsel had argued that his client had been lodged in jail for the past 20 years and death would be a "harsher punishment", which is longer than the 14-year jail term awarded in cases of life imprisonment.

Memon, a chartered accountant and brother of fugitive terror mastermind Tiger Memon, was sentenced to death by a special TADA court in July 2007.

The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Memon in March last year. Memon applied for presidential pardon in October 2013 and the president rejected his mercy plea in May.