Trial judge who sentenced Yakub to death hails SC ruling

The former TADA court judge P D Kode, who sentenced Yakub Memon to death in 2007 in the Mumbai serial blasts case, today said he was certain that the Supreme Court had dismissed his curative petition on merits.
"I have full faith in the Supreme Court and feel sure that it has decided Yakub's case on merits, though I am not not aware of the grounds cited by him in the petition," Kode told PTI.
For the apex court, the issue of human rights and liberty is of paramount significance and it always ensures that there is no miscarriage of justice, said Kode, who retired as a High Court judge sometime ago.

Recalling the marathon trial before the TADA court over which he presided, Kode said the investigating agencies -- Mumbai police and CBI -- had done an excellent job in arresting more than 100 accused and filing chargesheet in a record time.
He also appreciated the evidence adduced by the prosecution and said it was an excellent job.
"I have vivid memories of the trial which lasted for more than a decade," said Kode, who convicted 100 accused in this case.
"During the trial, several political parties came to power in the state. Every political party has its own ideology but all of them were unanimous in holding that they were opposed to terrorism and would act with a firm hand against people doing such acts," the judge said.

Kode had awarded death sentence to 12 accused, including Yakub. All of them appealed in the Supreme court, one of them died when the hearing was pending. The SC commuted death sentence to life sentence in the case of 10 convicts leaving only Yakub to face the death penalty.