- >>
- Politics
NEW DELHI: Yakub Memon will hang tomorrow, unless President Pranab Mukherjee steps in and accepts his mercy petition. But no matter what is the final decision----the President had rejected the first mercy petition in April already---the case has sharply divided society, with even the Bharatiya Janata party facing opposition to its support for the execution from some of its own members like actor Shatrughan Sinha and reputed lawyer Ram Jethmalani.
Memon, accused in the Mumbai bomb blasts case, lost the legal battle on Wednesday with a three member bench of the Supreme Court validating his death sentence. The apex court rejected all the legal arguments raised by the defence lawyers, maintaining that there was no procedural lapse in the hearing of the curative plea, or in the serving of the death warrant.
The Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao, former minister in the Vajpayee led BJP government, rejected Memon’s mercy petition almost immediately after the Supreme Court verdict was known. President Mukherjee had rejected his first mercy petition in April, and sources were not particularly optimistic about a shift in position insofar as the second petition now is concerned. More so, after the Supreme Court ruling has rejected all the legal points raised by Memon’s lawyers.
Judges, journalists, politicians---almost all sections of society having been taking a ‘black and white’ position on the case. The Maharashtra Assembly was adjourned several times, with the Shiv Sena vocal in its support for the death sentence before the Supreme Court ruling was known. The social media is flooded with abuse from trolls and strong legitimate voices supporting the execution of Memon as against an equally vociferous view against the death penalty and his execution.
Arguments were heard in almost all interested drawing rooms on the issue over the past several days, with the division fortunately not based on religious lines but on issues of justice and jurisprudence. Justice Panachand Jain (Retd) Justice H.S. Bedi (Retd),Justice P. B. Sawan(Retd) Justice H. Suresh (Retd) ,Justice K. P. Siva Subramaniam (Retd) Justice S. N. Bhargava (Retd) are just some of those to have signed a lengthy petition to the President urging him to spare Memon “from the noose of the death for a crime that was master-minded by someone else to communally divide the country. Grant of mercy in this case will send out a message that while this country will not tolerate acts of terrorism, as a nation we are committed to equal application of the power of mercy and values of forgiveness, and justice. Bloodletting and human sacrifice will not make this country a safer place; it will, however, degrade us all.”
The same petition was signed by Jethmalani and Shatrughan Sinha, who was also joined by fellow actors like Naseeruddin Shah and directors like Mahesh Bhat, along with a host of political leaders, activists, journalists, academics, historians, lawyers and others. The petition argued against death penalty forcefully, and has urged the President to look upon Memon’s case on legal and compassionate grounds that have been detailed forthwith.
On Tuesday the two member bench of the Supreme Court disagreed on the case. Justice Joseph Kurian and Justice Anil R.Dave differed with each other, with the Chief Justice of India being approached to constitute a three member bench that finally heard the arguments and took the decision against Memon’s plea for mercy. Justice Kurian had noted, "When this Court as the protector of the life of the persons under the Constitution has come to take note of a situation where a procedure established by law has not been followed while depriving the life of a person, no technicality shall stand in the way of justice being done.
After all, law is for man and law is never helpless and the Court particularly the repository of such high constitutional powers like Supreme Court shall not be rendered powerless.”
He regretted “my inability to agree with my learned brother” namely Justice Dave who had dismissed Memon’s plea.
Late Intelligence officer B.Raman’s article, published by Rediff.com now, also strengthened the views of those who felt that Memon had already been incarcenated for the crime, having been in jail for over 20 years. This was one of the points raised by the petitioners, including former judges, in the plea to President Mukherjee. The petition stated, “Yakub Memon has served more than 20 years in prison since his arrest. His trial took 14 years to complete. While the Hon'ble Supreme Court used this long period of incarceration as a mitigating circumstance to commute the death sentences of the other 10 co-accused persons, it applied a different yardstick to Yakub. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has repeatedly held that lengthy incarceration during pendency of appeal in death cases is a significant mitigating circumstance which ought to be considered in determination of sentence.”
Raman, an officer known for his integrity, had pointed in the unpublished article written as far back as 2007 that “mitigating circumstances” had not been taken note of by the prosecution at the time in pressing for a death sentence. And that Memon had turned approver as it were, on conditions that he would get life imprisonment and not the death sentence. This article incidentally was attached by the politicians and the judges to the petition submitted to the President. After the apex court verdict CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said that the President should take favourable action on this. Signals from the Rashtrapati Bhawan, at the time of writing this, did not seem to be in favour of Memon however.
