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5+ top anti-death penalty lawyers ask CJI to defer Memon killing with hours to go after Prez shows no mercy [UPDATE-2]

A Supreme Court hearing is likely to place on a plea seeking to put on hold the execution of 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon in the early hours of Thursday.

Perhaps for the first time, the Supreme Court will be hearing a petition seeking a stay on the execution of death sentence at the court premises at such late hours of the night.

In the early hours of Thursday, a senior registrar of Supreme Court has reached the residence of Chief Justice of India HL Dattu in connection with exercising related to the hearing of the petition.

Senior lawyers, including Indira Jaising and Prashant Bhushan, late Wednesday evening petitioned Chief Justice of India HL. Dattu for stay of 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yaqub Memon's execution for 14 days, putting forward three points in their plea.

Dattu is going through the petition and has not taken a decision yet, said sources.

The lawyers approached the CJI after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected Memon's mercy plea. The other lawyers include Nitya Ramakrishnan, Yug Chaudhary, Vrinda Grover, who are present outside the CJI's residence.

Memon, convicted for the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, is set to be hanged at 7 a.m. on Thursday in Nagpur jail with the rejection of his mercy plea.

The lawyers have raised three points in their petition to the CJI - with the first being how could the president decide a mercy petition in such short time? The petition was moved at 10 a.m. and by evening, the president had referred it to the home ministry and a short while later, rejected it, they said.

Secondly, they raised the issue of changed circumstances raised in the mercy petition in which Memon had said he is suffering from schizophrenia for the past many years. The third point they raised was after the Maharashtra governor and President Mukherjee rejected the mercy plea, Memon should have been given 14 days time.

Memon, 53, filed a fresh mercy petition before President Mukherjee to escape the gallows. In the evening, President Mukherjee held discussions over the mercy plea with union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who advised him to reject the plea.

Memon, whose petition to stay his execution on Thursday was dismissed by the Supreme Court, had filed a fresh mercy petition before the president to escape the gallows.

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