On the eve of Yakub Memon’s scheduled execution, several residents of the city held a candlelight vigil for several hours at Jantar Mantar hoping that he would be granted mercy. The gathering included social activists, students, teachers, other professionals and curious passers-by, who read out copies of his new mercy petition, chanted slogans and discussed why Memon must not be executed.
“This is a case where the execution should not have been ordered, if you go by legal technicalities,” said Rupali, a young lawyer who had come in response to messages from friends as well as material circulating in the social media and newspapers.
Several activists said that Memon’s new mercy petition, based on the revelations by former RAW official B. Raman who argued that Memon deserved leniency for his co-operation with the Indian agency by returning to the country with his family, was submitted to the prison authorities but had not reached the President yet.
“The Supreme Court may have given its verdict, but the mercy petition is still pending before the President. There are many legal grounds based on which his execution could be stopped,” said activist Jagmati Sangwan. Among the organisations in attendance were All-India Students’Association, the All-India Democratic Association and the Students’ Federation of India. Many of the placards on display were attributed to former President Abdul Kalam, who passed away on Monday and was against the death penalty. “Not sure a human system of a human being is competent to take away a life based on artificial and created evidence”, “Respect Dr. Kalam’s legacy of opposition to the death penalty. Show mercy to Yakub Menon”, and “Mercy for Yakub Memon would be a fitting tribute to late President APJ Kalam who said that the capital punishment reflected social and economic bias”.
However, there were many who had come because they believe the execution is not right. “I was passing by when I saw the crowd. I realised that India should have stuck to its promise,” said Ravi, a passer-by joined the protest.
