File photo of 1993 blasts convict Yakub Memon
Taking up 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon's petition to stop his hanging on Thursday, the Supreme Court today took no decision and said arguments would continue tomorrow.
Yakub has pleaded that the death warrant for his execution is illegal because it was issued when he had not quite exhausted every legal option; his curative petition had not been heard at the time. It was rejected last week.
A group of eminent citizens, including politicians, jurists and retired judges, have asked President Pranab Mukherjee to reconsider his position and grant mercy to Yakub, who was found guilty in 2007 of helping plan the deadly terror attack in which 257 people were killed in Mumbai.
Yakub's mercy plea was rejected by the President last year.
Among the petitioners are CPM chief Sitaram Yechury, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, BJP's Shatrughan Sinha, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, actor Naseeruddin Shah and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
Their petition argues that "in comparison to Yakub Memon, the 10 co-accused persons planted the bombs and played a much more critical and direct role in the actual execution of the conspiracy." Of the 11 sentenced to death, Yakub was the only convict not granted mercy.
The petition also argued that Yakub has been certified as "mentally unstable and suffering from schizophrenia" and cannot be hanged per a Supreme Court ruling.
On Sunday, actor Salman Khan was forced to apologise and retract tweets in which he said instead of Yakub, his brother Tiger Memon, the main accused who is missing, should be hanged.
Tiger Memon had allegedly masterminded the blast along with Dawood Ibrahim -- both have been on the run since 1993.
Salman's tweets, one of which said, "1 innocent man killed is killing the humanity," were later deleted after a storm of protests.BJP activists protested outside Salman Khan's residence in Mumbai and some were detained.
Mr Khan's father, noted screenwriter Salim Khan, disapproved of his tweets, saying: "Salman is ignorant of the issue and people should not take him seriously."