'Ram Sir was a creator of law. He has his stamp on every leading judgment in criminal law.'
'All the things that went into bringing Yakub Memon back to India between 1993 and 1994 must be recorded in that file. Raman would have submitted his findings to the prime minister on file; in writing.'
Yakub Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, is likely to be executed on July 30 if the Supreme Court turns down his mercy plea. It will be the first execution in the serial blasts, which left over 250 dead.
Yakub Memon's mercy petition was rejected hours before he is scheduled to hang by a three-member bench amid high drama that saw the Supreme Court throwing its doors open in the middle of the night in an unprecedented move.
'The Babri Masjid wasn't just a mosque, it was a test of our secularism,' says Jyoti Punwani.
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, serving a five-year sentence at the Yerwada central prison in Pune was released early on Thursday morning.
Back in 2007, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt had profiled Yakub after he was sentenced to death by the Terrorist and Disruptive Actives (Prevention) Act court for criminal conspiracy and financing air tickets to send co-conspirators for arms and RDX training to Pakistan.
Back in 2007, Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt had profiled Yakub after he was sentenced to death by the Terrorist and Disruptive Actives (Prevention) Act court for criminal conspiracy and financing air tickets to send co-conspirators for arms and RDX training to Pakistan.
Abu Salem and two other accused were convicted in the 1995 murder case of city-based builder Pradeep Jain.
After having secured a stay on release of three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Centre on Monday moved the apex court to prevent implementation of Tamil Nadu government's decision to set free four other convicts serving life imprisonment in the case.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf explains how two cases separated by ideological motives were curiously similar on one account.
Speaking about his last few days in jail, Dutt said that excitement of freedom and being with family did not allow him to eat nor sleep.
Salman Khan in defence of Yakub Memon said the wrong man is being punished for the crimes.
Yakub Memon, who was convicted for helping finance the serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 in which 257 people were killed, was hanged at the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday morning shortly before 7am.
Politicians, actors and eminent jurists have written a petition to the President to waive off the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict's execution, saying it 'would degrade us all'.
'The Ishrat encounter was neither genuine, nor fake. I believe it was a 'controlled killing,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Not Mekhail. Not Rahul. Not anyone. 'Wouldn't someone have asked?' Indrani asked.
'My confidence in the Indian judiciary is absolute after I saw justice being delivered in Gujarat even when a BJP government was ruling the state. The Muslims of Gujarat believed that they will never get justice in a BJP-ruled state, but the facts are before all of us to make a judgment.'
'B Raman knew that Yakub Memon should not be given the capital punishment but at the same time he harboured too much anger against Dawood Ibrahim and 'Tiger' Memon, and wanted to see that they do not stand to gain in the legal process in any manner whatsoever.'
The curative petition and other legal remedies still available to Yakub Memon are part of his rights as a prisoner condemned to death. Does the Maharashtra government want to deprive him of these rights, asks Jyoti Punwani.
'The cooperation of Yakub with the investigating agencies after he was picked up informally in Kathmandu and his role in persuading some other members of the family to come out of Pakistan and surrender constitute, in my view, a strong mitigating circumstance to be taken into consideration while considering whether the death penalty should be implemented,' B Raman had written in August 2007.