Criminal

A return to public hangings

Yakub Abdul Razak Memon v. State of Maharashtra and Ors.

MANU/SC/0816/2015

30.07.2015

When a judge begins his deliberations with a somewhat sardonic assessment that, “the issue had seen the end yesterday, appears to have unending character because precisely ten hours later, it has risen like a phoenix”, it is usually an implicit cue to res judicata. Justice Misra went on to note “the instant petition is a clear expose of the manipulation of the principle of rule of law... we have not perceived any error in the issue of the death warrant”, and went on to deny grant of 14 days' time for Yakub Memon to assail the rejection of the second mercy petition.

"Been busy much?"

Relevant

Be it hanging publicly, being stoned to death, receiving a guillotining axe or some more novel way dispensing death, capital punishment was once a cornerstone of deterrence. With the passage of time, however, came the need for an ironic civility. Hangings were carried out in the audience of only a select few, with grave procedure that embodied the gravity of justice. Curious, then, is the return of the public execution. Mr. Memon may have been hanged in the relative privacy of a high security prison, the legal traipsing up to his death was anything but. Petition after petition, plea after mercy plea, the culmination reminded a little too closely of the days when humans were watched writhing by an enthralled crowd.

Tags : supreme court death public trial

Share :