Pending Yakub-like Cases Should be Dealt With at the Earliest: Mayawati

NEW DELHI: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday said that her party thinks that the Supreme Court has adhered to the judiciary proceeding till the end while dealing with the execution of the 1993 Mumbai terror attacks convict Yakub Memon, and added that similar cases that are pending before the courts should be dealt with at the earliest.

“There have been a lot of debates for and against Yakub’s execution. But our party (BSP) thinks that the Supreme Court has adhered to the judiciary proceeding till the end,” Mayawati told the media here. “But along with this, our party also thinks that similar cases that are pending before the courts should be dealt with at the earliest,” she added.

“If those cases are delayed any further, people’s trust on central government and judiciary system will break,” Mayawati pointed out.

Memon was hanged at the Nagpur Central jail this morning after his second mercy plea before President Pranab Mukherjee was rejected late last night.

In an unprecedented move, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court presided over a fresh hearing of the case throughout the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday before dismissing the final appeal for mercy by Yakub, the only person to be sentenced to death for the series of bombings in Mumbai.

While Yakub Memon's lawyer Anand Grover had sought a reprieve of 14 days to challenge rejection of mercy plea by the President, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi maintained that if mercy petitions are filed over and over again, death warrants will never be executed.

The apex court had on Wednesday also dismissed the curative petition of Yakub, saying proper procedure was followed in disposing of Yakub's curative petition.

Memon was convicted for being the "driving spirit" behind the blasts that killed at least 257 people at separate landmarks in the financial capital, including the Bombay Stock Exchange and two crowded markets.