Closing its doors on Yakub Memon, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to quash the death warrant issued for the execution of the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
A three judge bench led by Justice Dipak Misra held that there was no "legal fallacy" in the issuance of the warrant by a TADA court in Mumbai on April 30 and it cannot be "faulted" in any manner.
Soon after the Supreme Court ruling, Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao
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In a detailed order, the apex court held that Yakub Memon had availed himself of all his legal remedies even after the warrant was issued. He went on to file his curative petition on May 12, 2015, which got dismissed on July 21, 2015.
The court pointed out that the warrant was served on Yakub Memon on July 13, 2015, giving him “sufficient time” under the law.
The court said it is not concerned with any mercy petitions before the Governor or the President, saying that such processes undertaken by the convict was in the executive realm and not the judicial, thus indicating that all legal remedies are now closed before Yakub Memon.
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Addressing Justice Kurian Joseph’s doubts about procedural violation in Constitution of the bench which dealt with the curative petition, Justice Misra said the “dismissal of the curative petition has to be regarded as correct and non-vitiated by any kind of procedural irregularity”.
The court accepted Attorney-General's stand that a curative petition decided by the three senior most judges of the Court “cannot be regarded as void, nullity or an impropriety”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Yakub Memon filed a >fresh mercy plea with the President.
As per norms, President Pranab Mukherjee will forward the mercy plea to Union Home Ministry for examination. The President is bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers, in this case the Home Ministry.