Memon to be hanged tomorrow

Yakub Memon, facing gallows in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, is all set to be executed tomorrow with the Supreme Court today clearing all legal hurdles by holding that there was "no legal falacy" and "fault" in the death warrant issued against him.
Yet-another last-ditch attempt by the lone convict in the blasts case that killed over 257 people and hundreds injured by filing a mercy plea before the President is also likely to fail with the Home Ministry set to recommend its rejection.
In Mumbai, Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao also rejected his mercy plea that was filed last week.

Ending the suspense and uncertainity over the fate of Memon, who was held guilty in the terror case, the apex court said his last legal remedy by way of curative petition was "correctly" dismissed by the three senior-most judges.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra held that his second mery petition will not come in way of his execution tomorrow when he turns 53 as he did not challenge the rejection of his first mercy petition by the President last year.
While clearing the decks by holding that the condemned prisoner has availed all legal remdies, the bench, also comprising Justices Prafulla Chandra Pant and Amitava Roy, rejected the plea that proper procedure was not followed in issuance of death warrant by TADA Court on April 30 for his execution on July 30.

Further, the bench differed with his counsel that mandatory 14 days notice was not given by Maharashtra Government in communicating to him about his date of execution.

"Issuance of death warrant is in order. We do not find any kind of legal fallacy. In view of that, we conclude that the curative petition was decided by three senior-most judges of this court cannot be faulted.
The issue of death warrant by TADA court on April 30 for the execution of death sentence on July 30 cannot be faulted. In the result writ petition sans merit and stands dismissed," the bench said after a day-long hearing.

While rejecting the contention that the death warrant was wrongly issued and without hearing Memon, the bench noted the sequence of event to demonstrate that he did not challenged the rejection of his first mercy petition by the President.
"After first mercy petition was rejected, he did not challenge it. On July 22, 2015, he filed another mercy petition. Whether he was entitled for such second mercy petition or not during the pendency of the curative petition.
"How the mercy petition has to be dealt we are not inclined to go," the bench said.