It was a rare sight on July 23 when the generally inexpressive Yakub Memon broke down on seeing his 21-year-old daughter Zubeida who had come to meet him in Nagpur Central Jail, probably for the last time.
“I have never seen him express any kind of emotion. Neither did he have complaints nor demands like the other inmates. He never showed any guilt, and he did not say that he was implicated either,” said Vaibhav Kamble, former Superintendent of Nagpur Jail.
Yakub loved reading, say many. While in jail, he successfully completed two Masters degrees: in English Literature (scoring 58 per cent) and Political Science (56 per cent) from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. “He is a voracious reader and has read almost everything from the Indian Constitution to the Criminal Procedure Code. He knows the jail manual word for word and has translated the Quran into English. He notes down every single event and maintains his documents neatly,” another source said. “Most of his time goes in reading and religious practices. He offers namaz five times a day. He behaves like a well-educated gentleman,” Mr. Kamble added.
Yakub’s routine remains unchanged, except for the more frequent visits from his lawyers and family in the last two months.
In fact, motivated by Yakub’s love for education and persuaded by him, many inmates from Faansi Yard (death row) have enrolled in various in IGNOU.
“The only time he missed an exam was in June 2014 when the President rejected his mercy plea. He told me that he was disturbed by the rejection, which was natural,” said P. Sivaswaroop, regional director of IGNOU. Yakub speaks fluent Arabic, Memoni, English, Hindi and Marathi.
“Yakub is an extremely helpful person,” says his lawyer Anil Gedam. A jail source agrees. “He has helped many inmates in filing their appeals and writing letters to their lawyers. It is because of him that there are fans and TV sets in Faansi Yard now”.
It is not just his benevolence, but his composure that makes him popular in jail. Yakub is always calm, and has never had an argument in jail. “He has faith in the Indian legal system.” Mr. Gedam said.
Such is the admiration for “Yakub Bhai”, as he is fondly called, that a section of prisoners have called for a day-long fast on July 27, condemning the death penalty awarded to him; in fact, many have even written letters to the President, the Supreme Court and the Law Commission of India on his behalf.
And how does Yakub feel about the sentence? “His stand is intact. He says that if you are hanging him for being Tiger Memon’s brother, he accepts it, but he would never accept the punishment for being the so-called conspirator of the blasts,” another source told The Hindu.
pavan.dahat@thehindu.co.in
Published - July 26, 2015 01:43 am IST
