Should Yakub Memon be hanged? Judgements pass on Twitter
A three-judge Supreme Court bench on Wednesday rejected the petition of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the sole death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. In another setback for the 53-year-old convict on death row, Maharashtra Governor CV Rao has also rejected his mercy plea, hours before he is scheduled to hang in a Nagpur jail on Thursday morning, also Memon's 54th birthday.
Dismissing Memon's curative petition, the apex court said there was no procedural lapse in the formation of the curative bench which had earlier this month rejected his appeal. Memon had argued that the death warrant against him was issued even before the Supreme Court could hear his curative petition.
The focus now shifts to President Pranab Mukherjee, who earlier on Wednesday received a mercy plea from Memon seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment. This was the first time Memon - found guilty and sentenced to death for his role in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts - has made a direct plea to the President. Earlier, a similar appeal was made by his family on his behalf which was rejected in April 2014. Read more here.
Twitter reacts to the news:
Breaking: Yakub Memon to hang at 7 AM tomorrow at Nagpur Central Jail. Decision by 3 judge SC bench. Terrorist's plea dismissed.
— Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) July 29, 2015Yakub Memon to hang tomorrow pending a surprise intervention form @RashtrapatiBhvn which seems highly unlikely given his past decisions
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 29, 2015dear god all the liberal breastbeating has begun. one would think #YakubMemon was arrested for buying vadapao instead of financing blasts
— Gayatri Jayaraman (@Gayatri__J) July 29, 2015Hanging Yakub Memon is a tactical mistake, I feel. Otherwise, don't have an iota of sympathy for the mass murderer. #याकूब_को_फांसी_दो
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) July 29, 2015Yakub Memon may be killed by kindness of his self-styled defenders who dragged merits of his conviction rather than humanitarian liberalism
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) July 29, 2015Delighted with the judgement by the Supreme Court on Yakub Memon. People like him deserve capital punishment. Not mercy petitions.
— SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) July 29, 2015