India’s Supreme Court has put off by a day a decision on whether to stay the execution of the only person sentenced to death for India’s deadliest bomb attack, meaning the convict will learn his fate just hours before he is due to be hanged on Thursday.
Yakub Memon was convicted as the “driving spirit” behind blasts in Mumbai in 1993 that killed at least 257 people, but his case has divided opinion in India, with several eminent figures saying the sentence is too harsh.
The Supreme Court last week rejected one appeal, but Memon again approached the court arguing an order to hang him was passed while he still had legal recourse available.
A two-judge Supreme Court bench yesterday gave a split verdict and referred Memon’s mercy plea to a larger bench of justices, which is due to hear the case on Wednesday.
Supporters of Memon’s plea said he cooperated with investigating agencies. His imminent hanging in the central city of Nagpur has ignited a debate in the media.
Memon’s plea has been turned down by the president. Several prominent people, including lawmakers and retired judges, on Sunday asked the president to reconsider.
Calls for reprieve grew after an Indian news website last week released a 2007 article written by intelligence official B Raman, who coordinated Memon’s arrest in 1994, and said he believed he should not be hanged. Raman has since died. “In their eagerness to obtain the death penalty, the fact that there were mitigating circumstances do not appear to have been highlighted (by the prosecution),” Raman said in the article.