New Delhi: Even as there are growing calls to abolish the death penalty, Mumbai bomb-blast accused Yakub Memon sentenced to death eight years ago for his role orchestrating the 1993 Mumbai bombings, will be hanged at the end of the month provided India’s Supreme Court rejects his final curative petition for mercy next week on July 21st.
Memon, was found guilty of being the “driving spirit” behind the 13 blasts that claimed more than 250 lives, and is tentatively scheduled for execution on July 30, reports say. President Pranab Mukerjee declined his earlier mercy plea in April and the final option available to Memon will be heard by the Supreme Court this month.
Memon’s hanging, if it takes place, will be the third high-profile terrorist execution in India within the past three years — Ajmal Kasab, one of the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks, was hanged in November 2012 and Afzal Guru, convicted of planning an attack on India’s parliament in 2001, met a similar fate a few months later.
India has been debating for some time now the abolition of the death penalty altogether. More than 60 death sentences were issued in 2014 and India is in the top 10 of death penalty countries. Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is among the notable voices in favor of scrapping the death penalty, saying that most cases involving a death sentence have a “social and economic bias,” the Times of India reported. Several participants in the consultation, however, said the death penalty can be justified in the “rarest of the rare” cases.
The law commission of India is preparing a report to be submitted to the Supreme Court on ending capital punishment, with a discussion on its consultation paper regarding the subject already floated and already has votaries both in favour and against.
