NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Despite the Supreme Court and the President rejecting his mercy pleas, uncertainty continued over the fate of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon on Wednesday.
After a discussion with Home Minister Rajnath Singh and senior officials of the government that lasted for over two hours, President Pranab Mukherjee rejected Memon’s mercy plea, clearing the decks for his hanging on Thursday morning. “Fresh mercy petition filed by Memon has been rejected by the President,” a top Home Ministry official confirmed. On being asked whether Yakub’s hanging will be as per scheduled, he answered in affirmative.
However, Yakub’s lawyers went to the Chief Justice of India H L Dattu’s house late on Wednesday, with a petition saying that a key provision of Maharashtra’s jail manual has been flouted. The manual provides a 14-day mandatory window between the rejection of mercy petition and the execution. The Chief Justice of India was set to hear the petition at 2 am on Thursday with the government’s top law officer presenting the Centre’s side.
According to highly placed sources, if the CJI does not admit the petition, Yakub will be hanged as per schedule.
Earlier in the day, Home Ministry officials received the fresh mercy petition of Memon, prisoner number C/7346 from Mukherjee’s office for further input. Home and Law Ministry officials, including Home Secretary L C Goyal and Law Secretary P K Malhotra went in a huddle around 5 pm. Rajnath Singh was also briefed about the developments related to the fresh plea. A decision was taken during the meeting at North Block that in the backdrop of Supreme Court refusal to stay the execution and rejection of his earlier mercy plea, there was no ground to accept the fresh petition and it should be turned down.
Singh and his Ministry officials reached Rashtrapati Bhawan around 8 pm to inform him about the government decision rejecting Yakub’s plea. Sources said the meeting stretched for long because President wanted to know whether there was any fresh ground to accept Yakub’s mercy plea and consulted law officers before taking a final view.
Even if Yakub is hanged, his wife Raheen will not get his body. Jail superintendent Yogesh Desai refused to hand it over.
Meanwhile, Raheen and their daughter Zubeida left Mumbai for Nagpur on Wednesday evening but they were unable to meet Yakub as visitors were not allowed in the prison after 4 pm.
Instead, his elder brother Suleman, who was acquitted in the bomb blasts case, and lawyer cousin Osman, who had met him in Nepal before his arrest in 1994, called on him for the last time. Osman refused to divulge what transpired. “We have full trust in the Almighty. Please leave us alone,” he said.
Doctors examined Yakub on Wednesday afternoon and certified that he was mentally and physically fit for hanging. He reportedly did not eat anything throughout Wednesday and kept asking the guards about the Supreme Court ruling.