'We should respect SC verdict, not politicise Yakub's execution': Shatrughan Sinha

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and actor Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday said there should be no politics played out on 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon's execution, and added that the verdict of the Supreme Court should be respected.

"I am strictly against the death sentence. It has been abolished in many countries. But there is no scope of 'if' and 'but' in today's case. Whatever has been done, it has been done by the honourable Supreme Court and we all should always respect the institution," said Sinha.

"As an actor and as a sensitive person, I am against capital punishment whether it is given to a civilian or a guilty. How can we take human life when we can't give it? There should be no politics," he added.

Sinha, however, insisted that one should not forget about the victims of the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

"Whatever happened was very cruel and condemnable, but if the Supreme Court and other courts accept capital punishment as an effective deterrent, then I respect the decision," he said.

Yakub was hanged at the Nagpur Central Jail this morning after his second mercy plea before President Pranab Mukherjee was rejected late last night.

In an unprecedented move, a three-judge bench of the apex court presided over a fresh hearing of the case throughout the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday before dismissing the final appeal for mercy by Yakub, the only person to be sentenced to death for the series of bombings in Mumbai.

Yakub was convicted for being the "driving spirit" behind the blasts that killed at least 257 people at separate landmarks in the financial capital, including the Bombay Stock Exchange and two crowded markets.