BBC Online :
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.
Memon says the authorities did not follow proper legal procedures in issuing the warrant for his death.
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court has now differed on whether his plea should be accepted.
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.
Last week, the Supreme Court had rejected a plea for mercy, paving the way
for Memon’s execution on Thursday 30 July. 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.
On Tuesday, judges AR Dave and Kurian Joseph differed on whether the death warrant should be suspended and the matter was referred to a larger bench of judges.
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”.
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.
Memon says the authorities did not follow proper legal procedures in issuing the warrant for his death.
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court has now differed on whether his plea should be accepted.
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.
Last week, the Supreme Court had rejected a plea for mercy, paving the way
for Memon’s execution on Thursday 30 July. 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.
On Tuesday, judges AR Dave and Kurian Joseph differed on whether the death warrant should be suspended and the matter was referred to a larger bench of judges.
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”.
