Anup Surendranath, Deputy Registrar (Research) in the Supreme Court, resigned on Saturday, saying what happened in the Supreme Court during the hearing of the petitions of Yakub Memon, leading to his execution on July 30, “must count amongst the darkest hours for the Supreme Court of India”.
‘Case of judicial abdication’
Mr. Surendranath says the 24 hours leading to the rejection of Memon’s final petition had instances of judicial abdication.
Mr. Surendranath was present at the unprecedented pre-dawn hearing and dismissal of Memon’s final petition for a 14-day interval between the President’s rejection of his mercy petition and his execution.
Commenting on the execution, an earlier Facebook post by Mr. Surendranth said: “It would be silly and naive to see the events of the last 24 hours at the Supreme Court as some triumph of the rule of law — the two orders at 4 p.m. on 29th July and 5 a.m. on 30th July (and the reasoning adopted therein) are instances of judicial abdication that must count amongst the darkest hours for the Supreme Court of India.”
Mr. Surendranath is the Director of the Death Penalty Litigation Clinic run by the National Law University, Delhi.
The clinic, represented by senior advocate T.R. Andhyarujina in the Supreme Court in the Memon case, argued for a stay of the execution on July 30 for “procedural violations” in the death warrant issued by the trial court in Mumbai on April 30.
