‘Death by Hanging’- a 53rd Birthday Gift for Yakub Memon at the Cost of Rs 22 Lakh

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Mangaluru: “Hap..hap.Happy Birthday”; “Many happy returns of the Day: “We pray that you live up to 100 years”- these birthday quotes/wishes and much more are often heard or seen when someone celebrates his/her birthday. But in the case of Yakub Memon, who had spent 21 years behind bars, the sole death-row convict of 12 March 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, none of these birthday wishes were conveyed to him or heard, instead he was hanged at 6.43am on July 30, 2015. He got what he deserved for killing nearly 260 people and injuring 700 more in that blast. “Death by hanging”- a perfect 53rd birthday gift for his act. May his soul …….??

It is learnt that a birthday cake was sent to Yakub Memon inside Nagpur Central Prison at midnight. Memon’s family handed over the cake to the jail superintendent. They spent the night hoping for positive news as the Supreme Court opened at 3 am for an unprecedented hearing on the convict’s petition to stop his hanging. Memon’s lawyers had argued that 14 days should be given after his mercy petition was rejected by the President last night. After a 90-minute hearing, the judges rejected the plea saying ample opportunity had been given to Memon after his first mercy petition was rejected last year. Soon after the court verdict, security was tightened outside the Nagpur jail where the hanging took place. Memon’s brother Suleiman and cousin Usman had stayed at a hotel in the city. Memon’s wife and daughter were at their home in Mahim in Mumbai; extra security has also been posted there.

Did you know that Maharashtra government has to spend nearly Rs 22 lakh on Yakub Memon’s hanging-Memon is the only convict whose death penalty was upheld by the apex court. According to an estimate, the Maharashtra government will end up spending about Rs 22 lakh in the whole process including, security arrangements. Few hours before the actual hanging, trials of the hanging had been conducted on a dummy as per the jail manual and the rope required for the noose has been sourced from outside.The primary responsibility of the execution lied with the Nagpur Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai, who was posted at Yerwada Prison in Pune, when the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks convict Ajmal Kasab was hanged there in November 2012.

Memon, in a last ditch effort had moved a mercy petition to the Maharashtra Governor, but his mercy petition was rejected by the Governor, and so the execution of hanging went on a smooth scale today (30 July 2015). Memon had also moved the Supreme Court challenging the death warrant contending that all his permissible legal remedies have not been exhausted. But all his efforts were in vain. Memon was the only convict whose death penalty was upheld by the apex court.


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10 Comments

  1. Again, as a matter of principle I oppose and reject capital punishment by state. There is nothing really to celebrate or cheer when a state puts an individual to death.

  2. as a matter of principle I oppose and reject capital punishment by state. – R.Pai

    Mr.Pai,

    Do you also oppose the Indian army (on the orders of the State) killing those Pakistani terrorists who infiltrate into our borders with the intention of killing our own people? Fundamentally, what’s the difference between those terrorists and our own home grown rats like Memon?

    • Henry James asks, “Fundamentally, what’s the difference between those terrorists and our own home grown rats like Memon?”

      Dear Henry James, the “Home Grown” terrorists sprouted in 1993, for the first time, and this first of its kind episode of the millennium was singularly due to the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid Disputed Structure, violating the law of the land.

      The demolition took place with utter disregard of Indian Judiciary. They took the Supreme Court for a ride then, by filing false affidavit saying that it would be a “peaceful Kar Seva” and they demolished the disputed structure, forcibly and violently. The majority’s religious frenzy was let loose to trample the minority value system. The complex at Ayodhya was raised to the ground by the followers of Advani and Hindutva extremists, also resulting in the 1992 mass killings at Bombay, as reported in the Justice Srikrishna Commission Report! Thousands of innocent people were killed in India due to the demolition. The end result, the BJP is in power now!

      BJP has grown from a two seat party in the Parliament, to the majority party since then and due to that. Demolition at Ayodhya re-germinated the discredited Jana Sangh and the RSS to rule the roost today!

      Again, due to that cause, the “Home-grown terrorism” too germinated in the ashes of Ayodhya and resulting in the 1993 serial blasts in Bombay.

      The effect is punished by the judiciary on 31st July, 2015, but not the cause of it! Hanged Memon was a law-abiding citizen and a proud Indian Muslim till then. He was a Chartered Accountant. Nevertheless, when his religious sentiments were shattered, he pounced back, albeit irresponsibly. He is not a Jesus Christ to say, “Don’t harm him who has harmed, for he does not know what he does.”

      Dear Henry James, think over the matter dispassionately, applying ’cause and effect’ logic. Think why Modi became the PM today, over taking all the leaders of BJP and why RSS had para dropped Modi, heads and shoulders above that party? Is it not the post Godhra ashes from which he has sprouted? Vajpayee rightly felt that his “Shining India” was defeated in the 2004 general elections because of the misdemeanour of Modi .

      At the bottom of every greatness there is a sin, they say. Stop asking questions about the origins, for origins are stinking. This is epitomised by a Kannada saying: “ನದೀ ಮೂಲ, ಸ್ತ್ರೀ ಮೂಲ ಮತ್ತು ಗುರು ಮೂಲಗಳನ್ನು ಹುಡುಕಬಾರದು, ಕೆದಕಬಾರದು.” For, they stink.

      Ashes of violence can do anything to the country! Our present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Dattu, had praised Modi AFTER HE BECAME THE P.M; albeit, in a different context. However, praise remains a praise, you know!

      Sir, make yourself bold, to call a spade a spade.

  3. Mr.Henry,

    I don’t oppose Indian army killing those rats during encounters. I never opposed killing in self-defense or war. However, if we catch some terrorists at the border, we don’t take them to a corner and execute them. The fundamental difference here is of self-defense and judicial sanctioned execution.

  4. Dear readers,

    ‘Article 21 (right to life and liberty) inheres a right in every prisoner till his last breath and this court will protect that right even if the noose is being tied on the condemned prisoner’s neck.’ — Supreme Court judgment in Shatrughan Chauhan vs Union of India, January 2014.

    Though very late yet welcoming. Supreme Court verdict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case must relieve the families who lost their dear ones. But the verdict has not relieved the pain of those families whose dear ones were killed by rioters and Police during the two-month long bloody riots that preceded the serial blasts in the commercial capital of India. The riot victims ask: When the government rightly pursued, got prosecuted and ultimately punished the bombers, why it let free the rioters, rather promoted many indicted police officers and politicians? Is killing by bombs more painful than killing by mob?

    The Muslims and everyone must welcome and respect the verdict of the apex court on the Mumbai serial blasts of March 1993 in which nearly 257 people were killed,713 injured and properties worth Rs 27 crore were damaged. But what about the Mumbai riots victims of December 1992 and January 1993 in which more than 900 Muslims were killed and properties worth more than Rs 10000 crore were damaged by Hindu rioters and police? Not only have the riot victims failed to get the justice so far, but shamefully a whole lot of police officers who were indicted by Sri Krishna Commission kept on getting promotions in the last 20 years.

    Undoubtedly the Mumbai serial blasts were the ‘reaction’ to the anti-Muslim riots that happened in a planned way soon after the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. The culprits of ‘reaction’ were pursued to even foreign locations, brought to book and now ultimately have been punished but the culprits of ‘action’ who are roaming freely in Mumbai localities were not touched, they are still at large.

    Why is the BJP led Maharashtra government in such a hurry to see 1993 Mumbai blasts accused Yakub Memon hang?

    The unprecedented hearing held at the Supreme Court past 3 a.m. on Thursday, in which 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon’s last ditch attempt to avert his execution was rejected, was the first of its kind in the apex court’s history and has been generally appreciated by the legal fraternity — though there were some discordant notes also.

    Before the Supreme Court’s final verdict in those cases, politicians launched campaigns on behalf of the convicts. Tamil Nadu’s legislative assembly passed a resolution against hanging Gandhi’s assassins, while the Akali Dal adopted Bhullar’s cause.
    The Akalis have also demanded mercy for for Balwant Singh Rajaona, one of Beant Singh’s assassins. Astonishingly, Rajaona has been elevated to the status of Living Martyr (Zinda Shaheed) by the high Sikh religious authority, the Akal Takht.

    In fact, little is known about this former chartered accountant except that he is the brother of Tiger Memon, mastermind of the March 12, 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.

    Some facts about Yakub Memon need to be stated here.
    There is no direct evidence against him. Only the statement of an approver, and confessions of co-accused who later retracted them, accuse him of being party to the plan to execute multiple bomb blasts in Mumbai. Such statements and retracted confessions have not been considered sufficient by trial courts to convict terror accused.
    Tiger Memon made sure his entire family was in Dubai when the blasts took place on March 12, 1993. From there, they were shifted to Pakistan by the ISI. Yakub could have stayed on in Pakistan, living a life of luxury under the ISI’s protective cover. Instead, he chose to return to India in July 1994 to clear his name, and convinced some of his family to do so too. Explaining his decision in a letter written from jail to the Chief Justice of India in July 1999 (a copy of which is with this writer), Yakub said he felt confident his innocence would be established in Indian courts, and that he could bring up his children as Indians.
    The Indian government was party to his surrender. It also knew that he was bringing crucial proof of Pakistan’s hand in the blasts, proof they could not have got otherwise.
    The government betrayed his trust by tom-tomming in Parliament that he had been arrested, charging him and his family members under the Terrorist & Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, and opposing their bail. By now, Yakub has spent 23 years in jail, 13 as an undertrial, most of them in solitary confinement.
    Yakub is the only 1993 blasts accused whose death sentence has not been commuted to life imprisonment. Those granted this reprieve by the Supreme Court include persons who planted the bombs.

    The bomb blasts were masterminded by smugglers and criminals but it’s called ‘terrorism’ while the genocide of Muslims was masterminded by politicians, police and administration but it’s called ‘communal riots’. Killing by bombs is ‘terrorism’ but killing by trishul and bullets of police is called ‘violence’.

    It can now be said with certainty that Muslims, both criminals and falsely accused, are more likely to be arrested, more likely to charged, more likely to be proved guilty, more likely to be sentenced to death and more likely to be executed. This points not only to the discrimination prevailing in the legal machinery, Police being the major culprit, but also to the inability of Muslims, due to their lower socioeconomic conditions to fight the costly legal battles. Of course, when politics gets involved, their chances of avoiding punishment become considerably low. The government finds it harder to accept the mercy appeals of Muslim convicts because the media had already done its job in building mass opinion in favour of their hanging.

    I am a strong believer of death sentence to all those who are involved in murders irrespective of the identity of the killers and the victims. If violence has to be stopped, the perpetrators of violence need to be given their own medicine. I have therefore no sympathy for Memon. What is however necessary is the absence of bias in all respects – in rewards as well as punishments What pains me, and should pain every right thinking human being, is the increasingly partisan attitude of Indian system (Government, Politicians, Police and Judiciary) against Muslims. This gives weight to the ever increasing feeling of discrimination against Muslims in the country. Thanks to the various systems put in place by successive governments, including that of reservations of various kinds, Muslims are neither an adequate part of governance and administration nor of justice and execution. And when the biases in minds are becoming the order of the day, Muslims will of course have the higher representation in all the categories of oppression, suppression, victimisation and exploitation. Will this ever to come to end? Perhaps, not in near future.

    In last 10 years there are 1,303 death sentences and only 3 executions all are carried with identity of Muslims.Is the message is clear: The BJP is against terrorists only if those terrorists are Muslim?Can our President Mukherjee being merciless for the remaining penalties?Can our highest Judiciary will once again work early hours of the darkness of night and reward the death penalties regardless of their identity?

    Are we (Muslims) only to be hanged?
    http://muslimmirror.com/eng/63235/

    Is Indian Judiciary system ever be again balance the scales of Lady of justice and offset the balance only to be used against the oppressed using her double-edged sword in her right hand, symbolizing the power of Reason and Justice??

    Jai Hind

    • Sharia Shaikh,
      Stop posting incoherent thoughts from an unknown site. Show some courage and answer a simple question – What’s the punishment for apostasy in your religion?

  5. Dear R.Pai,

    So you are ok to kill people who have the intent to harm others before they commit the crime but you do not agree with it after they commit it and cause misery to hundreds?

    If the mumbai police had encountered (shot at sight) Memon before the Mumbai blasts back in 1993 (as long as they were convinced) you would have been OK with it but today, after 22 years, when so many hundreds of families have lost their bread-winners, so many people have lost their loved ones, hundreds of people were permanently disabled you want the Indian government to allow that rat to live? When are you planning to land back on planet earth mate?

    • When are you planning to land back on planet earth mate? – Mr. James to our Rampa

      Hahahaha! :):) A great one mate!

      But then, I wonder what’s his fear to land back on good-ole Terra Firma. As things are, his Jhomblass chaddis are in power and then again, his Jhomblass chaddi can always serve as a great parachute and soften his hard-landing on Bharatha Matha. 🙂

  6. “So you are ok to kill people who have the intent to harm others before they commit the crime but you do not agree with it after they commit it and cause misery to hundreds?” – H.James,

    Dear friend,
    You are misrepresenting my views. In doing so, you have made it clear that you do not understand the difference between self-defense and judiciary sanctioned punishment.

    Let me explain again – Police or a soldier will shoot and kill a person when he is seen as a threat. For example, if a person charges at police wielding a knife or gun, they will have to use lethal force to neutralize him. Same way, when you are engaged in a war with enemy forces, you assume that every person you come in contact is a potential threat to your life and you try to kill him. HOWEVER, if you clearly know the person is not a threat (unarmed, injured, subdued or surrendered), you don’t kill him. He will be handed over to appropriate authorities and face the justice system. This is why I never supported police encounters (euphemism for illegal executions by Police) as I find them totally illegal and immoral.

    So, there is no debate when it comes to self-defense. The real debate starts after judiciary takes over the process and the question is – Do we have the right to put an individual to death ? Well, you know my answer.

  7. I am curious about one issue, How the other 21 persons escaped gallows despite their clemency being rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee?
    If you don’t believe me, just check it out.
    Maganlal Barela
    Seema Gevit and Renuka Scinde
    Saibanna Ningappa Natikar
    Suresh & Ramji
    Surinder Koli
    Gurmeet Singh
    Dharampal
    Simon, Gnanaprakash, Madaiah and Bilavandran
    BA Umesh
    Sonia and Sanjeev
    Shivu and Jadeswami
    Ajay Kumar Pal
    Sonu Sardar
    Jagdish
    Holiram Bardoloi
    Rajendra Prahladrao Wasnik
    MA Anthony
    Shiwaji Shankar Alhat

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