Supreme Court dismisses Yakub Memon plea on curative petition, Governor rejects mercy plea

The apex court said proper procedure was followed in Yakub's curative petition and his death warrant is without any lapse.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Maharashtra has also dismissed the mercy petition by Memon against his hanging. Now only his petition before the President of India for the second time is pending.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench is hearing on Wednesday whether the 1992 Mumbai serial blasts accused Yakub Memon will hang tomorrow or not even as he filed a fresh mercy petition with the President who had last year rejected the clemency plea.

In the apex court the petition of Yakub is that proper procedure was not followed in his case with his lawyer arguing that the death warrant issued against him is illegal.

The situation makes it uncertain whether the death sentence will be commuted.

Memon's death warrant has already been issued and he is to be executed on July 30 inside the Nagpur Central jail.

The hearing of Memon's case comes after the earlier two-judge bench of Justices AR Dave and Kurian Joseph was divided in its opinion and left it to Chief Justice of India HL Dattu to set up a larger bench .

While Justice AR Dave dismissed his petition, Justice Kurien Joseph disagreed, saying Yakub’s curative petition needed to be heard afresh as it was dismissed without following correct procedure and rules laid down by the top court.

“A defect in deciding curative petition needs to be cured otherwise there will be clear violation of right to life of the convict under Article 21 of the Constitution,” Justice Joseph said.

Yakub  also filed a fresh petition challenging the validity of the SC’s July 21 order rejecting his curative petition.

Ahead of his hanging Memon had filed a petition before the Supreme Court stating that a a lower court's death warrant against him was issued before he exhausted all the legal remedies available to him under the law- which is violation of the existing law.

An accountant by profession, Memon also filed a mercy petition before the Maharashtra government immediately after his curative petition was dismissed by the apex court last week.

Meanwhile, just a day before his scheduled hanging Yakub Memon has filed a fresh mercy petition with the President.

President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected his mercy plea last year but Yakub's lawyer says that petition was filed by his family on his behalf.