The hanging of Yakub Memon fuelled a debate in political circles on Thursday, both on the death sentence in general as well as on the fairness of the decision.
First off the mark were Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Shashi Tharoor who took to the social media to condemn Yakub’s execution, giving the BJP an opportunity to train its guns on the party and demand an apology. The Congress officially ticked off its two high-profile MPs for deviating from the official line.
That did not deter Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley from describing the statements made by Mr. Singh and Dr. Tharoor as “irresponsible.” He sought an explanation from Congress president Sonia Gandhi in this regard.
The Left parties, meanwhile, sought a moratorium on the death penalty, while the Janata Dal (United) sought a debate on the subject even as it posed questions on why the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi and former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh had not received the same treatment as Yakub.
The Bahujan Samaj Party stressed that cases involving death penalty should not be kept pending for so long.
Earlier in the day, Dr. Tharoor said there was no evidence to suggest that death penalty served as a deterrent — all it does, is exact retribution, unworthy of any government.
We must fight against terrorism w/all the means at our command. But cold-blooded execution has never prevented a terror attack anywhere.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) >July 30, 2015We must fight against terrorism w/all the means at our command. But cold-blooded execution has never prevented a terror attack anywhere.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) >July 30, 2015Mr. Singh said “exemplary urgency and commitment” had been shown by the government and the judiciary in punishing a terror accused.
The CPI(M), however, termed it as a “miscarriage of justice” even as it sought stringent action against those responsible for the 1992 riots in Mumbai, stressing that it had led to the acts of terror.
“The law has taken its course in the Yakub case,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, adding, “But the same determination should be shown for other cases [the riots that preceded the terror acts] as well to maintain unity of the country.” He made a reference to the Justice Srikrishna Committee report on the communal riots and the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, pointing out that the blasts were the result of the communal incidents after the Babri Masjid demolition.
The CPI’s D. Raja said he will move a Private Member’s Resolution in the Rajya Sabha on Friday seeking a moratorium on all death sentences till the penalty is abolished.
Janata Dal (U)’s K.C. Tyagi said, “We feel the same justice should have been meted out to the killers of Rajiv Gandhi and Beant Singh.”
1993 blasts: Looking back
On March 12, 1993, 13 blasts ripped through the commercial and social hubs of Mumbai killing 260 and injuring over 700. The bombs were timed and placed to create maximum havoc and create a major rip in the communal fabric of the city and the nation.
>War on Mumbai
The powerful explosions dealt a benumbing blow to the collective consciousness of Mumbai which remains a soft target after facing six major terror attacks in 22 years
>Black Friday: A tale of horror
It has been 22 years since the horrific incident, but 62-year-old Suresh More says he can never forget that Friday afternoon on March 12 when Mumbai got a bloodbath.
>From messenger to mastermind
Yakub Memon would pay for his brother's sins and become the only man to be sentenced to death in the Mumbai blasts case.
Timeline
>The good doctor who saved precious lives
Dr. Jaychand Mandot’s doctor’s eye for details came in handy for the police.
>From 'best' CA to death row detenu
Yakub was once named the best chartered accountant by the Memon community
>Justice or vengeance?
Procedure followed to obtain death warrant for Yakub Memon suffers from serious constitutional flaws
>Yakub Memon and the story of the death penalty
This will be India's third execution since it lifted its informal 8-year moratorium
>40 operations, zero compensation: Why? Asks 1993 blast victim
Kirti Ajmera, injured in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, talked to The Hindu.
>How Mumbai Police got their first clue to Memon family
As Mr. Walishetty recalls, it was the inspection of a suspicious van in Worli that led the police to Yakub’s family.
>Doctors performed non-stop operations as Mumbai queued for blood donation
Two blasts separated by an hour accounted for over hundred lives and injured nearly thrice as much.
>Yakub Memon hanged at Nagpur central prison
Yakub Abdul Razak Memon was executed at Nagpur central prison at around 6.30 am on July 30.
“Look after my wife and daughter Zubaida” were the last words of the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon to his brother Sulaiman Memon, who had gone to see him one last time on Wednesday evening and to make an application to get his body.
Brother of Tiger Memon, the “mastermind” > behind the blasts , Yakub was hanged in the Nagpur central prison at 7 a.m. on Thursday, hardly two hours after a Supreme Court Bench rejected his last-ditch attempt to postpone his execution.
“He was hopeful until the time the jail superintendent and magistrate read out his death warrant and explained to him the reasons why he was being hanged,” said a jail source.
>A chartered accountant by profession , Yakub was executed on the day he turned 53, and a day before his daughter Zubaida was to turn 22. A family source denied the rumours in a section of the media that he wished to speak or spoke to his daughter before his execution on Thursday.
“He did not speak to Zubaida. The family did not even get any phone call from the jail. The last communication was a sealed envelope given to Sulaiman in his hotel in Nagpur at 2 a.m. The letter was an intimation that Yakub would be hanged between 6 to 7 a.m. on Thursday,” another source close to the family told The Hindu.
1993 blasts: Looking back
On March 12, 1993, 13 blasts ripped through the commercial and social hubs of Mumbai killing 260 and injuring over 700. The bombs were timed and placed to create maximum havoc and create a major rip in the communal fabric of the city and the nation.
>War on Mumbai
The powerful explosions dealt a benumbing blow to the collective consciousness of Mumbai which remains a soft target after facing six major terror attacks in 22 years
>Black Friday: A tale of horror
It has been 22 years since the horrific incident, but 62-year-old Suresh More says he can never forget that Friday afternoon on March 12 when Mumbai got a bloodbath.
>From messenger to mastermind
Yakub Memon would pay for his brother's sins and become the only man to be sentenced to death in the Mumbai blasts case.
Timeline
>The good doctor who saved precious lives
Dr. Jaychand Mandot’s doctor’s eye for details came in handy for the police.
>From 'best' CA to death row detenu
Yakub was once named the best chartered accountant by the Memon community
>Justice or vengeance?
Procedure followed to obtain death warrant for Yakub Memon suffers from serious constitutional flaws
>Yakub Memon and the story of the death penalty
This will be India's third execution since it lifted its informal 8-year moratorium
>40 operations, zero compensation: Why? Asks 1993 blast victim
Kirti Ajmera, injured in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, talked to The Hindu.
>How Mumbai Police got their first clue to Memon family
As Mr. Walishetty recalls, it was the inspection of a suspicious van in Worli that led the police to Yakub’s family.
>Doctors performed non-stop operations as Mumbai queued for blood donation
Two blasts separated by an hour accounted for over hundred lives and injured nearly thrice as much.
>Yakub Memon hanged at Nagpur central prison
Yakub Abdul Razak Memon was executed at Nagpur central prison at around 6.30 am on July 30.
