Yakub Memon and Death penalty

Important notice:

I DON'T PROMOTE TERRORISM OR SUPPORT ANY CRIMINAL ACTIVITY!

This is my personal request to all readers/ legals/ well wishers/ followers/ critics not to adversely view my opinion. Reactions and criticism are welcomed but not in an abusive manner. Everyone is free to express his/her own views. I have been going through a moral dilemma in my mind ever since I heard/read in the media about the sentencing of Yakub Memon to death by the court. I have been repeatedly asking myself before posting this: Should I write on this verdict?

Would my views be adversely viewed by the court? Would I be committing contempt of court?

It is impossible to have definitive answers to these questions. Ultimately, I decided to write my views in the belief that it is important to prevent a person on humanitarian grounds, who in my view does not deserve to be hanged, from going to the gallows. Also hanging one Yakub will not an automatically end the terrorism.

'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; -

Yakub brought proof of Pakistan's involvement in the blasts, which India could not have otherwise obtained. He thought this act would earn him a reprieve. Instead, unable to get Dawood Ibrahim or Tiger Memon, the Indian authorities wrecked vengeance on the rest of the Memon family, who had chosen to surrender because of 'faith in our government and judiciary', as Yakub wrote in a letter to the chief justice of India from Arthur Road jail five years after he had set foot on Indian soil. In my view, these strong mitigating circumstance to be taken into consideration before his execution of the capital sentence. And if Yakub is hanged, the message will be clear for all those who are in queue to surrender in hope of reformation: if you have committed a crime and have been lucky enough to escape, good for you. If you are suspected of having committed a crime but want to return to India to try and clear your name, be prepared for the worst. Far better to spend your life in luxury, even if it is in a country that is hostile to yours. Not for you the choice of bringing up your children as Indians.

And there is no place for reformation in our justice system. No doubt, Yakub would have deserved the death penalty if one only took into consideration his conduct and role before July 1994. But if one also takes into consideration his conduct and role during investigation after he was informally picked up in Kathmandu, there is a strong case for having second thoughts about the suitability of the death penalty in the subsequent stages of the case. -

Editor Madanbhaai Nayak also known as Madansingh Shekhaawat

(Proponent of social activism, human rights and civil liberties)