BJP welcomes SC verdict on Yakub Memon, calls those opposed to sentence as 'mentally challenged'

New Delhi: BJP on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict rejecting the plea of Yakub Memon, the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, to escape the gallows, and said justice has been finally delivered to the victims. Branding those who opposed the death sentence to Memon as “mentally challenged” in need of treatment, BJP said it was wrong for “some people to have politicised the whole issue or for giving it a communal colour”. [caption id=“attachment_2370136” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Yakub Memon. IBNLive[/caption] “We welcome the SC judgement. Ultimately justice has been delivered to all the victims of the 1993 Mumbai blasts. People of the country have faith in the judiciary and with this verdict, their faith has been strengthened further,” BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said. He slammed those opposing the death sentence to Memon as “mentally challenged” and said all such people need treatment. BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli said the SC verdict has made it clear that decision taken by trial court in terms of awarding death sentence is correct. “It brings finality to the entire legal process. It would not be proper to try and go behind the decision and attribute anything to the decision. “This marks the closure with respect to Yakub Memon’s trial and also a step in the direction of closure for all those who lost their family members or suffered on account of the horrific terror attack and bomb blasts in 1993 in Mumbai,” Kohli said. Another BJP national spokesperson, Sambit Patra, said it is a “big day” for the victims of the 1993 Mumbai blasts and a sense of justice prevails today and termed it as a “victory” of law. “BJP has always maintained that law should take its own course. Today, with the verdict of the Supreme Court, in fact the law has taken its course. A sense of justice prevails for the victims of 1993 Mumbai blasts and it was wrong for some people to have politicised the whole issue or for giving it a communal colour,” Patra said. Sharma said terrorism was a threat to the entire world and there is need for all to unitedly fight the menace. “There should be no politics played on terrorism, which does not have any religion,” he said. On questions that there was a deal between law enforcing agencies and Memon, as claimed by former intelligence official B Raman, Kohli said, “One must not ignore critical fact - nowhere did Yakub Memon or his lawyers raise this issue during his entire trial. How could they not raise it?” The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay the execution slated for tomorrow of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, rejecting his last ditch plea to escape the gallows. PTI