“Modi believes in only branding,” he said while demanding that the NDA government should come out with a white paper on the amount of money earned through cess and whether it has been used for the purpose for which it was collected
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He hit out at the BJP led Centre over price rise. “Government that can’t stop price rise is useless, remember it can fall due to it.”
File Photo
Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday spoke at the Shivaji Park ground at Dadar, Mumbai for the party’s Dussehra rally.Thackeray taunted the BJP about the recent controversies and violence around cow slaughter and beef ban even as the pulse price escalated. “Why ‘Gai Pe Charcha’, there should ‘Mahagai Pe Charcha’. Our bond is with people, not with power,” he said. “Talk about inflation, not beef,” he said.He also said he wanted good power connection in Maharashtra. “I want to bring electricity in villages covered with darkness.” he said. <!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Thackeray also spoke about the issue of renaming of Aurangzeb Road. He said that renaming of the road bothers people but conversion of Hindus does not. “Aurangabad’s name must be changed to Sambhajinagar.” the Sena chief added.He also brought up Yakub Memon’s hanging. “Why so much ruckus abt Yakub’s hanging? Just because he is a Muslim, then why not the same feeling about Hindus? No charges levied yet on Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pradnya?He said that Sanatan must be banned, but only if they are found guilty. “Ban Sanatan, but first prove they are guilty. If Sameer Gaikwad is guilty, punish him, but prove his guilt first. Hang Pansare, Dabholkar killers if they are guilty but first prove charges against them.” He hit out at the BJP led Centre over price rise. “Government that can’t stop price rise is useless, remember it can fall due to it.”He also lashed out at Sharad Pawar, saying that he should not teach us Swabhimaan.”I like Ghulam Ali’s songs. But Pakistan is rejecting our Id sweets and we should continue supporting them?” Uddhav said about the recent protest against the singer’s concert. “To those who preach us, why don’t you play Ghulam Ali ghazals on January 26 and August 15 from Red Fort instead of Lata’s patriotic songs,” he said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier announced Rs 2 lakh reward on the driver.
Pakistani militant Mohammed Naved Yakub
The Kulgam police on Tuesday arrested a truck owner who had allegedly transported Pakistani militant Mohammed Naved Yakub to Udhampur, where he had attacked a BSF bus on August 5, according to Zee Media.The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier announced Rs 2 lakh reward on the driver. The NIA is probing the militant attack in which two BSF personnel were killed.NIA had nabbed the truck driver in September. He is alleged to have helped Naved along with his accomplice Mohammed Noman alias Momin to travel to Udhampur. The driver Khursheed Ahmed alias ‘Surya’, is said to be an LeT operative, and lives in Awantipura.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Khursheed had taken Naved and his accomplice Momin to Jammu on July 20 on a reconnaissance mission during which the timings of convoys of BSF and Army were marked, says Zee News.After carrying out the attack on the BSF convoy alongwith Naved, Momin was killed in retaliatory fire while Naved was nabbed by two villagers whom he tried to kidnap.However, the BSF has maintained that their convoy was not the intended target. It is also alleged that the captured driver said that he and his fellow militant wanted to target the ongoing Amarnath Yatra.
Besides the nodal officer from Press Information Bureau (PIB), the team could comprise of senior officer from each department.
To respond to negative news that appears in the media, the government is planning to set up teams of experts in various ministries, reported a leading daily.According to Sunday Express, departments of various ministries were advised to form a list of experts including people from outside the government and keep their contact details ready. These expert would be called if an issue becomes big and to present the government’s case in a pertinent manner when the issue becomes critical.Quoting a senior officer, the report said that during the recent Gujarat violence, the government did not manage the media well, and at the high level (PMO) it was felt that there was no effective communication.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The report further added that besides the nodal officer from Press Information Bureau (PIB), the team could comprise of senior officer from each department.Recently, the NDA government issued separate show-cause notices to an English and two Hindi news channels for their coverage of the of Yakub Memon’s execution on July 30, 2015.The government had said that the three private channels had shown disrespect to the Supreme court’s decision and also to the President of India’s refusal to grant clemency to the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict.In this process, The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will play a role in drafting quick response on sensitive news to ensure that the voice of the government is heard.
Three leading news broadcasters, which were issued show cause notices by the government over their coverage of the Yakub Memon hanging incident, have defended their programmes saying these were according to the norms and did not violate any rules.
Yakub Memon
PTI photo
Three leading news broadcasters, which were issued show cause notices by the government over their coverage of the Yakub Memon hanging incident, have defended their programmes saying these were according to the norms and did not violate any rules.Sources said NDTV, whose two channels NDTV India and NDTV 24×7 had been served show cause notices, and Hindi news channels ‘Aaj Tak’ and ‘ABP News’ have replied to the notices by Information and Broadcasting ministry.”All the channels have defended their coverage. They have also held that the content should be seen in the overall context of the programme,” a senior official said. The official added that the channels had also said that they held the judiciary in high esteem.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The channels held that their programmes have been as per the norms and they have not violated any rules, a senior offcial said.”The matter will now be referred to an Inter Ministerial committee (IMC) as per the procedure,” the official added.While a meeting of the IMC is scheduled tomorrow, it is unlikely that the matter pertained to these notices would come up as there were already previous matters scheduled, officials said. They said NDTV 24×7 got the show cause notice as it “carried the byte of a certain political leader and one time lawyer for Yakub Memon”.The notice to the channels says that it had “allowed transmission of such content which not only questioned the judicial system of India but tended to denigrate the very institution by hinting that it is not at par with judicial systems existing in the UK and the US”.NDTV India was served the notice after one of its anchors made a comment, which the ministry felt appeared tantamount to “questioning” the judgement of the Supreme Court. The ministry issued separate show cause notices to Aaj Tak and ABP News after the channels telecast interviews with Chhota Shakeel, aide of Dawood Ibrahim.In its notice to Aaj Tak, the ministry said that the channel had for over five minutes carried the programme where Shakeel is heard making “some very objectionable comments about the Indian justice system”. A similar notice was issued to ABP news for airing Shakeel’s comments.
The sketches were made on the basis of interrogation of arrested terrorist Naved. The two terrorists were named Zargham alias Mohammad Bhai and Abu Okasha by the NIA.
Sketches of the two terrorists released by NIA on Tuesday.
The Gujarat police on Wednesday nabbed two terror suspects from Jammu and Kashmir who were planning to enter Maharashtra through Tapi district, one of whom resembled the sketch of absconding accomplices of Pakistani terrorist Naved Yakub issued by NIA, a police officer said. The two were held at Songadh check-post on Gujarat- Maharashtra border in Tapi district of Gujarat by special operations group and handed over to the state Anti-Terrorism Squad.”Two suspects who belong to Kashmir have been detained from Tapi District. Face and features of one of them are similar to a person in sketches of two suspects released by the NIA recently,” said the superintendent of police, Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad, Himanshu Shukla.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>However, Shukla added, “So far there is nothing to say that they are terrorists. Till now we can say there is no material to say that they are involved in terrorist activities.” NIA issued sketches on Tuesday of two absconding accomplices of Naved Yakub who was captured after the Udhampur attack. Shukla said the two arrested men would be brought to Ahmedabad for interrogation.The NIA has declared a reward of Rs 5 lakh each for Zarghan alias Mohammed Bhai, aged about 38-40 years, and Abu Okasha, aged about 17-18 years, who were suspected to be involved alongwith Naved in the attack on BSF convoy in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5.Two BSF personnels were killed in the attack. Superintendent of police, Tapi district, M K Nayak had said earlier that the two were captured only on suspicion.
The directions came after Delhi Police received an anonymous email on Monday threatening a bomb attack on the Supreme Court, days after a death threat was made against apex court judge Justice Dipak Misra, following which security was beefed up in and around the premises of the apex court.
Earlier, Justice Dipak Misra, one of the three Supreme Court judges who had turned down the final plea against hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon, had received a threat letter, after which his security was enhanced.
File Photo
In the wake of heightened threat perception, the Supreme Court has curtailed the entry of visitors including law interns in the high security complex and requested advocates to be extra-cautious of any suspicious activity within its premises. The directions came after Delhi Police received an anonymous email on Monday threatening a bomb attack on the Supreme Court, days after a death threat was made against apex court judge Justice Dipak Misra, following which security was beefed up in and around the premises of the apex court.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>A circular which has been issued by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) said, “In view of the escalated threat perception being faced by the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of India has sought to curtail/limit the number of visitors in the high security zone and proposed to completely stop the entry of interns/law students and visitors for the purpose of consultation, inside the high security zone.”Aishwarya Bhati, Secretary of SCBA, said that during a meeting held at the residence of Chief Justice H L Dattu on Monday evening, it was decided that due to the “supervening and compelling circumstances”, it was necessary to take these measures to ensure stronger safety of the apex court.Cautioning the members of the Bar, the circular said, “Members are requested to be extra cautious and report any suspicious activity/article immediately to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Supreme Court Security.” It also asked the bar members to be “very careful and discerning” before issuing pass slips to clients or visitors and not leave it to be given out by their office or clerks to avoid any possibility of misuse.The circular, however, said that to avoid any hardship to members, “no fee will be levied on them for the first half an hour for the consultation rooms or cubicles in two Chamber Blocks, for a period of one month.”Earlier, Justice Dipak Misra, one of the three Supreme Court judges who had turned down the final plea against hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon, had received a threat letter, after which his security was enhanced.
The Supreme Court has received an anonymous email threatening that it will be blown up, says news report.
The Supreme Court has received an anonymous email threatening that it will be blown up, says news report.According to a NDTV report, the mail was recieved last weekend, following which the security at the apex court has been increased.Last week, Supreme Court Justice Dipak Misra, who headed the three-member bench that gave the final judgment on Yakub Memon, received a threatening note which claimed that “irrespective of the protection you may avail, we will eliminate you”.The anonymous note addressed to Justice Misra was found by security guards in the backyard of his home in Delhi, and investigators believe that it was thrown over the wall, which is not guarded by CCTV cameras or security personnel.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The Supreme Court had rejected Yakub Memon’s last-minute plea just two hours before the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict was scheduled to be executed in the Nagpur central jail.More details are awaited.
The cover story in Tehelka’s latest issue, “Who Is The Biggest Terrorist Of Them”, showed the image of Thackeray alongside Yakub Memon, Dawood and Bhindranwale.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Saturday submitted a complaint to the police against the news magazine Tehelka, seeking criminal action for their recent cover story.The Shivaji Park police made a station diary entry based on a complaint filed by Bala Nandgaonkar against the article carried by the magazine, which equated Bal Thackeray with Dawood Ibrahim and Yakub Memon!According to reports, Nandgaonkar complained against the magazine for allegedly using derogatory language and equating Thackeray with terrorists.In the four-page application, MNS sought an FIR against the magazine’s reporter saying that it has hurt their sentiments.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Image credit: TehelkaHowever, legal opinion would be taken to decide on further course of action.The cover story in Tehelka’s latest issue, “Who Is The Biggest Terrorist Of Them”, showed the image of Thackeray alongside Yakub Memon, Dawood and Bhindranwale.The report also said that, “Yakub’s hanging juxtaposed with the State funeral for the Shiv Sena supremo is a powerful emblem of this discriminatory and prejudiced understanding that seriously impairs India’s fight against terror.”The cover has received sharp responses from all quarters of the media and public.
Naveed Yakub was on Wednesday remanded to NIA custody for 14 days by a court in Jammu to enable the probe agency to identify other culprits involved in the Udhampur terror attack.
PTI
India will likely request Pakistan for more information on LeT’s Pakistani militant Mohammed Naveed Yakub aka Usman, who was captured after Wednesday’s attack on a BSF convoy in Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir last week.”The National investigation Agency will write a letter to Pakistan to provide more information on Naveed’s activities,” reported NDTV, quoting sources.Naveed, who hails from Faisalabad, had told investigators that he had come to attack and avenge the atrocities inflicted on the Kashmiris. The report also said that the investigation agency will request other countries for details of Naveed’s VoIP calls, messages on Viber and WhatsApp under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Naveed Yakub was on Wednesday remanded to NIA custody for 14 days by a court in Jammu to enable the probe agency to identify other culprits involved in the Udhampur terror attack. NIA chief Sharad Kumar will personally interrogate Naveed Yakub.Meanwhile, a truck driver, who ferried him along with his accomplice Mohammed Noman alias Momin to Udhampur, and a businessman who is alleged to have paid Rs.5 lakh to Naveed and his handler, have been missing and a manhunt has been launched to nab them.His accomplice Noman was killed in retaliatory firing by BSF during the terror attack.After undergoing two modules of training with LeT, Naveed is reportedly perceived to be a hardened militant who is trying to confuse his interrogators, a tactic apparently aimed at buying time for his other accomplices in the terror network to allow them to slip away.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi made eminent sense in the Supreme Court yesterday.
This is what he told the court about the infamous muddled pornography ban.
“How can you stop in on the privacy of your phone? The other thing is that if someone wants to watch it in the privacy of their bedroom, how can we stop that? These are now issues of 19(1).”
Article 19 (1) is about freedom of speech.
Representational image. AFP
That’s pretty much what the Chief Justice had told the porn ban petitioners in the first place.
“Somebody can come to the court and say, ‘Look, I am an adult and how can you stop me from watching it within the four walls of my room?’ It is a violation of Article 21.”
Article 21 is about a right to personal liberty.
So if both were on the same page anyway, why did the government wilfully slap egg on its own face and make itself the butt of jokes last week with its 857-site ban which Rohatgi himself admits “the department went and blocked without verifying”?
Perhaps it was an over zealous government lawyer like Pinky Anand who was responsible but Rohatgi does not mention that. What’s baffling in his statement to the court is that it seems to blithely ignore the fact that it was the government itself that had imposed the blocks in the first place and is now arguing is infeasible.
“There are many issues and we don’t want to do moral policing. There is also difficulty: the websites can change their names and change their website, and it becomes difficult. We will obey court orders, but we don’t want to become a moral police.”
But sir, the court did not ask you to be the moral police. It did not say go forth and ban these sites. The government chose to be the moral police and now it’s piously arguing before the court that it does not want to be the moral police.
Either it thinks our attention spans are so short that no one remembers what happened a week ago. Or the government’s left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.
Sometimes the left hand and right hand which seem to be acting at cross purposes can literally belong to the same person.
Nikhil Pahwa of Medianama points out that while Rohatgi was championing the cause of adults and privacy in this case, the same Attorney General had repeatedly told the Supreme Court that there was no fundamental right to privacy in India. That was a case challenging the Aadhaar card on the grounds of privacy. In that context Rohatgi had said “The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21.”
No wonder the Internet Service Providers Association complains there is conflict between the directives it is getting from the government. “We will block whatever you want us to block, but we cannot block on our own because it’s a violation of our license. In the interim those websites are blocked. Let the government give a clear instruction of URLs.” (What that list of 857 contained were websites, not URLs.)
But the larger issue is not about #PornFree or #PornBan.
It has become one about chronic double speak. Even as Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad assures us that the government is “100% committed to the freedom of speech and expression, including on social media”, news comes that the government has directly issued show cause notices to three television channels for disrespecting the office of the President and the Supreme Court by broadcasting interviews with people who had differing opinions about the fate of Yakub Memon. An editorial in The Hindu calls it an “outrageous overreach” of the government’s powers:
“A perusal of the content under question shows only critical discussion by individuals of the judgment dismissing the mercy petition. There was nothing there amounting to defamation or contempt of court, nor was any aspersion cast on the office of the President beyond mere criticism of the decision to reject the mercy petition.”
The Hindu points out that part of the problem is print is given more leeway in terms of freedom of expression than broadcast because the latter is believed to have “more instantaneous impact” and the broadcast spectrum is a public resource. “The distinction between the print and broadcast media should be removed and the broadcast medium allowed in full the freedom of expression guaranteed under the Constitution,” opines the editorial.
Well, you have to be careful what you wish for.
The government might be thinking about parity but not exactly along the lines The Hindu imagined. The Telegraph reports the government is now mulling expanding its scrutiny of the Yakub Memon coverage from television to print media as well. “Action so far has been initiated against four broadcasters because they violated the programming code, but if some newspapers have also committed those mistakes, we will look into the matter,” a senior official tells The Telegraph.
A government that prided itself on its finely tuned and focused communication strategy seems to be either schizophrenically confused or speaking out of both sides of its mouth depending on its audience. Either way it’s richly ironic that Rohatgi stood up and told the court that without self-regulation, we risk becoming a “totalitarian state… tomorrow they will say stop this, stop that.”
Perhaps like eating beef. Or 28 cuss words on film. And who’s the “they” anyway?
The likes of a Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti or Giriraj Singh make hot-headed inflammatory comments. The upper echelons of government distance themselves from it, assure the media it’s not the view of the key cabinet members but do little else to counter it. The offending politician after a token half-apology carries on unfettered anyway never visibly suffering any consequence for their intemperate ways. That in itself sends out a mixed message.
And when enough of these mixed messages get out there, the question becomes will the real NDA government please stand up?
Mumbai: Gangster Abu Salem has denied in his statement before the TADA court in Mumbai that he went to the house of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt and gave him two AK-47 rifles and hand grenades prior to the 1993 Mumbai blasts.
Abu Salem said he didn’t give any weapons to Sanjay Dutt. PTI
Dutt was convicted in the 1993 blasts case for possession of an AK-47 rifle and sentenced to five years in jail.
Salem on Tuesday submitted his statement to the court under section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code, which enables the accused to personally explain any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him or her.
Salem, Riyaz Siddiqui, Karimullah Khan, Feroze Abdul Rashid, Tahir Merchant and Mustafa Dossa are facing trial now as they were arrested in the case later. The court had in 2006 convicted 100 accused, including Yakub Memon who was hanged last month.
“It is also false that two or three days later he, along with other accused, (again) went to Dutt’s house and brought (back) a bag containing two rifles, bullets and grenades,” the statement said.
Salem also contended in the statement that his trial, after the termination of extradition order by Portuguese court, is “illegal, unwarranted and bad in law.”
In January 2012, Portugal’s Supreme Court upheld an order which cancelled Salem’s extradition from that country because Indian authorities slapped some charges attracting death penalty on him, violating the terms of extradition.
Extradition was based on false information and documents given to the government of Portugal, he added.
Further, CBI did not place all the relevant documents before the TADA court regarding the extradition and hence the court was misled into framing additional charges, it said.
The trial “on the basis of police custody, forced confession and new fabricated material” is illegal, it said.
The statement claimed that Salem did not know any of the co-accused of the blasts conspiracy.
Salem has also given names of three witnesses whom he wants to examine: former CBI officer OP Chatwal and two officials from the Ministry of External Affairs.
Meanwhile, the first defence witness, called by co-accused Feroze Abdul Rashid, on Tuesday deposed and said he did not identify Feroze; the man in the dock was not the same person as his classmate Feroze.
During the cross-examination, when the prosecutor asked about the witness’ company defrauding some persons to the tune of Rs 26 crore, he asked for water and requested that the deposition may be continued some other day. It was then adjourned.
Thirteen powerful blasts had ripped through Mumbai on 12 March, 1993, killing at least 257 people and injured 713.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi made eminent sense in the Supreme Court yesterday.
This is what he told the court about the infamous muddled pornography ban.
“How can you stop in on the privacy of your phone? The other thing is that if someone wants to watch it in the privacy of their bedroom, how can we stop that? These are now issues of 19(1).”
Article 19 (1) is about freedom of speech.
Representational image. AFP
That’s pretty much what the Chief Justice had told the porn ban petitioners in the first place.
“Somebody can come to the court and say, ‘Look, I am an adult and how can you stop me from watching it within the four walls of my room?’ It is a violation of Article 21.”
Article 21 is about a right to personal liberty.
So if both were on the same page anyway, why did the government wilfully slap egg on its own face and make itself the butt of jokes last week with its 857-site ban which Rohatgi himself admits “the department went and blocked without verifying”?
Perhaps it was an over zealous government lawyer like Pinky Anand who was responsible but Rohatgi does not mention that. What’s baffling in his statement to the court is that it seems to blithely ignore the fact that it was the government itself that had imposed the blocks in the first place and is now arguing is infeasible.
“There are many issues and we don’t want to do moral policing. There is also difficulty: the websites can change their names and change their website, and it becomes difficult. We will obey court orders, but we don’t want to become a moral police.”
But sir, the court did not ask you to be the moral police. It did not say go forth and ban these sites. The government chose to be the moral police and now it’s piously arguing before the court that it does not want to be the moral police.
Either it thinks our attention spans are so short that no one remembers what happened a week ago. Or the government’s left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.
Sometimes the left hand and right hand which seem to be acting at cross purposes can literally belong to the same person.
Nikhil Pahwa of Medianama points out that while Rohatgi was championing the cause of adults and privacy in this case, the same Attorney General had repeatedly told the Supreme Court that there was no fundamental right to privacy in India. That was a case challenging the Aadhaar card on the grounds of privacy. In that context Rohatgi had said “The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21.”
No wonder the Internet Service Providers Association complains there is conflict between the directives it is getting from the government. “We will block whatever you want us to block, but we cannot block on our own because it’s a violation of our license. In the interim those websites are blocked. Let the government give a clear instruction of URLs.” (What that list of 857 contained were websites, not URLs.)
But the larger issue is not about #PornFree or #PornBan.
It has become one about chronic double speak. Even as Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad assures us that the government is “100% committed to the freedom of speech and expression, including on social media”, news comes that the government has directly issued show cause notices to three television channels for disrespecting the office of the President and the Supreme Court by broadcasting interviews with people who had differing opinions about the fate of Yakub Memon. An editorial in The Hindu calls it an “outrageous overreach” of the government’s powers:
“A perusal of the content under question shows only critical discussion by individuals of the judgment dismissing the mercy petition. There was nothing there amounting to defamation or contempt of court, nor was any aspersion cast on the office of the President beyond mere criticism of the decision to reject the mercy petition.”
The Hindu points out that part of the problem is print is given more leeway in terms of freedom of expression than broadcast because the latter is believed to have “more instantaneous impact” and the broadcast spectrum is a public resource. “The distinction between the print and broadcast media should be removed and the broadcast medium allowed in full the freedom of expression guaranteed under the Constitution,” opines the editorial.
Well, you have to be careful what you wish for.
The government might be thinking about parity but not exactly along the lines The Hindu imagined. The Telegraph reports the government is now mulling expanding its scrutiny of the Yakub Memon coverage from television to print media as well. “Action so far has been initiated against four broadcasters because they violated the programming code, but if some newspapers have also committed those mistakes, we will look into the matter,” a senior official tells The Telegraph.
A government that prided itself on its finely tuned and focused communication strategy seems to be either schizophrenically confused or speaking out of both sides of its mouth depending on its audience. Either way it’s richly ironic that Rohatgi stood up and told the court that without self-regulation, we risk becoming a “totalitarian state… tomorrow they will say stop this, stop that.”
Perhaps like eating beef. Or 28 cuss words on film. And who’s the “they” anyway?
The likes of a Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti or Giriraj Singh make hot-headed inflammatory comments. The upper echelons of government distance themselves from it, assure the media it’s not the view of the key cabinet members but do little else to counter it. The offending politician after a token half-apology carries on unfettered anyway never visibly suffering any consequence for their intemperate ways. That in itself sends out a mixed message.
And when enough of these mixed messages get out there, the question becomes will the real NDA government please stand up?
Hitting out at BJP over the execution of 1993 blasts case convict Yakub Memon, MNS president Raj Thackeray on Monday alleged that the BJP-led governments at the Centre and state wanted “riots to break out in the country”.
dna Research & Archives
Hitting out at BJP over the execution of 1993 blasts case convict Yakub Memon, MNS president Raj Thackeray on Monday alleged that the BJP-led governments at the Centre and state wanted “riots to break out in the country”.”Yakub Memon was a terrorist but his hanging episode was converted into a drama by both the Centre and the state government. Looking into the events preceding and following the hanging of this traitor who killed so many people, I feel that both governments only wanted riots to break out in the country,” he said.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The 47-year-old firebrand leader was addressing a gathering of party supporters in adjoining Thane. He alleged that the media was being fed with the details of Memon’s activities ahead of the July 30 hanging and the journalists, too, enthusiastically lapped them up.”On the day of Yakub’s hanging, newspapers printed so many pictures of this traitor, while we could barely see photos of a nationalist like APJ Abdul Kalam (who was laid to rest on July 30),” he said.Raj also blasted his long-time friend, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, over his tweets, that were perceived as being in favour of Yakub (some of which were withdrawn later), ahead of the execution.”Salman is a man without brains, while his father is a respectable man. He does not read newspapers and does not know the law and thus went on tweeting in his (Yakub’s) favour.Then there are people who sent letters to the President seeking mercy for the traitor. How can anybody question a Supreme Court order?” he asked.Justifying his visit to the actor’s residence after he was pronounced guilty in the hit-and-run case, Raj said he has very old family ties with his father Salim Khan and thus went there to be with him at the time of crisis.The MNS president also trained his guns at Gujaratis living in Mumbai, saying they have gone “out of control” ever since Narendra Modi, who hails from the state, became Prime Minister.He took a dig at Gujaratis over their predominately vegetarian food habit, seeking to know how they can discriminate among people on the basis of what they eat? Taking a jibe at Modi, Raj said the Prime Minister does not speak on anything, he just makes declarations. “His ‘Man Ki Baat’ programme has turned into ‘Moun Ki Baat’.” Raj hailed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s initiative to bring new industries in the state but insisted that Marathi youths be given employment in these units.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that it was probably calls by some gangsters which led to the large crowd at the funeral of 1993 blasts case convict Yakub Memon in Mumbai following his hanging at the Central Prison here.
Devendra Fadnavis
PTI photo
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that it was probably calls by some gangsters which led to the large crowd at the funeral of 1993 blasts case convict Yakub Memon in Mumbai following his hanging at the Central Prison here.The chief minister, however, dismissed media reports about Tiger Memon, a key absconding accused in the blasts case and Yakub’s elder brother, calling his mother Hanifa in Mumbai.”There were no mourners at the Mumbai airport when Yakub’s body reached (on July 30 noon) but, later, probably the (absconding) gangsters instigated people to attend the funeral,” Fadnavis told reporters here last night.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Mumbai police were on their toes for Memon’s burial in south Mumbai, which was attended by a large crowd. The funeral had passed off peacefully.About the reports that Tiger (said to be hiding in Pakistan) calling his mother and swearing revenge for his brother’s hanging, Fadnavis said, “There is no truth (in them).”The BJP-led Maharashtra government is well-prepared to deal with security concerns during the coming festival season, the chief minister said, adding that the vigil has already been tightened after Memon’s hanging.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister said that terrorists, anti-national people, rapists should be given strongest possible punishment.
Venakaiah Naidu claimed 37 persons had been hanged in the recent past including Afzal Guru, Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon.
File Photo
dna Research & Archives
Amid a raging debate on the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said that strongest possible punishment, including death sentence should be given to terrorists, anti-nationalists and rapists.”Glorifying terrorists and anti-nationalists is no good. Death penalty is an issue which can be debated upon. But surprisingly, some people come out openly as and when death penalty is given to a terrorist, anti-nationalist…” he told reporters.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”Somebody is saying death penalty cannot take place. It may be their view. I am of the view that terrorists, anti-national people, rapists, strongest possible punishment including death sentence, should be given,” he said.Calling for a nation-wide debate on the topic, he said, “… Yakub Memon was hanged after 20 years of trial… Supreme Court sat up to 3.45 in the morning. That speaks for the greatness of India’s independence and judiciary. Some people are running stories of what he (Memon) had for breakfast on that day…..” he said.Noting that some people were trying to bring religion into the matter, he said, “terrorist is a terrorist. Does he have any religion? An anti-national is an anti-national. Why are you talking about his religion whether he is Hindu, Muslim or Christian?” He claimed 37 persons had been hanged in the recent past including Afzal Guru, Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon.”We were all in Rameswaram for the funeral of the great man, the great son of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. But some of the (TV) channels were prominently showing and highlighting Yakub Memon. Are we serving the nation’s interest?,” he asked.About rapists below the age of 18 not being given serious punishment, Naidu said, “Some people do not want people below 18 years to be given serious punishment. But when they (rapists) know how to rape, torture a woman, I do not have any sympathy for him (rapist) even if he is below 18 years. So the debate goes on in these issues.”
Yakub Memon, who was hanged on July 30 was conferred MA Political Science Degree at the 28th convocation of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on Sunday, reports an English daily.Memon who was in jail for the last two decades completed his masters in English back in 2013 and enrolled for the Political Science Course. He passed the two year course in December 2014, but the degree was not conferred at that time. Memon was given the degree by Nagpur Regional centre of the University. According to a leading daily, no one from Yakub’s family was present to collect the degree and hence it will be sent via post to them.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Memon was originally a Chartered Accountant by profession. He played a key role in arranging logistics for the 1993 serial blast in Bombay, which led to death of 257 innocents. He was sentenced to death by the trial court and the verdict was subsequently upheld by higher courts.
The Guild’s President N Ravi said in a statement that “it is shocking that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry should have issued notices to ABP News, NDTV and Aaj Tak for their coverage of the Yakub Memon issue under the cable TV regulations.
File Photo
PTI photo
The Editors Guild of India on Saturday condemned the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s issuing show cause notices to three TV news channels for their coverage related to Yakub Memon hanging, terming the action as “shocking” and called for immediate withdrawal of the notices.The Guild’s President N Ravi said in a statement that “it is shocking that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry should have issued notices to ABP News, NDTV and Aaj Tak for their coverage of the Yakub Memon issue under the cable TV regulations.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”Those regulations were never meant to be used to stop the free and vigorous discussion of matters of public interest however disagreeable the content might be to the government. Yakub Memon’s case before the Supreme Court and the President and the subsequent execution were matters of widespread public interest with sharply polarised viewpoints. The discussion of the issues was obviously in the nature of political speech that should be allowed free expression without curbs,” the statement said.It said that “viewpoints unacceptable to the government ought not to be penalised on the specious plea that they would incite violence or spread hatred.””The Editors Guild of India calls upon the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to withdraw the notices forthwith,” the statement said.The Guild said that “it is also time for a re-examination of the broadcasting regulations that on the face of it look over-broad and leave room for misuse in violation of the right to Freedom of Expression under Article 19 1(a) of the Constitution.
Three news channels were issued show-cause notices on Saturday for their coverage of Yakub Memon’s hanging.
Broadcast Editors’ Association on Saturday expressed concern over what it said apparent tendency among governments, both at Centre and in some states, to serve notices on media organisations in a selective manner, against the backdrop of I&B ministry’s show-cause notices to three news channels over coverage of Yakub Memon’s hanging.The apex body of editors of news channels in India expressed dismay over the latest notices issued to the three channels reportedly on the “questionable pretext” that their coverage of Memon’s death sentence amounted to contempt of the institution of the President as also the judiciary.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”The BEA has decided to take up this issue with the government,” a statement released here said.The BEA also expressed concern over the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2015 which limits the media coverage of anti-terrorist operations to “periodic briefings” by an officer “till such operation concludes.”Also read: Govt raises red flag over coverage of Yakub Memon’s hanging by three TV channels”This amended rule does not mention, first, what constitutes a terrorist operation and how it is different from any other encounter and secondly, at what stage should the government notify the nature of incident to the media,” the BEA statement said. It also asked if the rules restrict only airing of the operation “till such operation is over” or does it deny the right to cover the incident.”While the BEA does not believe in live visual coverage of terror incidents, it does believe that media coverage cannot be restricted to official briefings,” the BEA said. There are ample self-regulatory guidelines regarding coverage of terror incidents which this body strictly adheres to, it added.During the recent Gurdaspur terror attack, the Information and Broadcasting ministry had issued an advisory asking channels to desist from covering the incident live. Public broadcaster DD News is learnt to be among the channels that did so.The BEA also said that it has in its executive committee meeting on Saturday decided to take up the defamation notices issued by the Rajasthan Government to a leading news channel and privilege proceedings initiated by the UP Assembly against a Hindi news channel.
The Union Information and Broadcasting ministry has issued show-cause notices to three TV channels —ABP News, NDTV 24×7 and Aaj Tak—for showing content which showed disrespect to the President of India and the judiciary in showing content which urged for mercy for 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon, according to a report in the Indian Express.
“The content includes phone-in interviews of Chhota Shakeel on Aaj Tak and ABP News in which he claimed Yakub Memon was innocent and said that four mercy petitions were dismissed in a single day. He also alleged that justice had not been done and that he did not believe the court. NDTV 24×7 had aired an interview of Yakub Memon’s lawyer who spoke about how many countries have done away with the death penalty,” the report said.
Yakub Memon. Image courtesy: IBNLive
The report mentions that the show-cause notices issued to the three channels cites the breach of three sections of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.
Memon was hanged on July 30 and his execution brought up the debate surrounding the death penalty again.
On the day of the hanging, two Hindi channels aired of phone-in interviews of Chhota Shakeel, in which he claimed that justice has not prevailed in the Memon’s case and he does not have faith in Indian Justice system.
dna Research & Archives
The NDA government has issued separate show-cause notices to an English and two Hindi news channels for their coverage of the of Yakub Memon’s execution on July 30, 2014, the Indian Express reports. The three channels have been given 15 days to explain why the government should not take action against them.The government said that the three private channels had shown disrespect to the Supreme court’s decision and also to the President of India’s refusal to grant clemency to the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict. On the day of the hanging, two Hindi channels aired of phone-in interviews of Chhota Shakeel, in which he claimed that justice has not prevailed in the Memon’s case and he does not have faith in Indian Justice system. The English channel has come under the government’s scanner for broadcasting Yakub Memon’s lawyer’s interview in which he questions the death penalty sentence given to Memon by saying that many countries had done away with capital punishment, the report says. <!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Sources told to the newspaper that the I&B ministry obtained the video clips aired from the Electronic Media and Monitoring Centre (EMMC). Quotes from these clips have been cited in the notice. According to the report, the show-cause notices call on at least three sections of the Programme Code prescribed under the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994. Section 1(d) prohibits carrying programmes which contain anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendos and half-truths. Section 1(e) restricts broadcasting of programmes in the cable service which are supposed to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote anti-national attitudes. Section 1(g) bars channels from carrying content which “contains aspersions against the integrity of the President and Judiciary”. A committee of officials from the Home, External Affairs and Defence ministries will evaluate justifications provided by the channels and decide on the consequences. One channel has already submitted its response.
‘Zaya nahin jayega, main unko chukwaonga,’ says Tiger Memon, in a conversation he reportedly had with his mother Hanifa, hours before brother Yakub was hanged. Implicit in Tiger’s words is his vow for revenge, pledge for making Yakub’s killers pay for the act, not letting his mother’s tears go waste.
But, does Tiger really know who killed Yakub? Who was responsible for letting a bright, young accountant turn first into a terrorist and then a fugitive? Who forced Yakub to spend 20 years in jail, torn between fear of impending death and hope of freedom? Who sent Yakub to the gallows? Who was Yakub’s real enemy?
Yes, the Indian state hanged Yakub. But, his death warrant was signed the moment Tiger dragged him and the rest of the family into the Mumbai bomb blasts; Yakub’s fate was sealed when his elder brother made him a co-conspirator and then a guest of the ISI.
Tiger Memon and Yakub Memon. Agencies
His mother Hanifa is right. “Pehle ke vajah se mera Yakub gaya,”she told Tiger during the brief conversation. Even the mother knows her son died because of what Tiger did pehle (earlier). Will Tiger make the real culprit pay? Will he make his mother’s tears count by acting against the man who killed Yakub?
On the basis of evidence, both recorded and anecdotal, Yakub’s life can be clearly divided into two parts. Both were scripted by Tiger, first as his brother and inspiration; then as an adversary.
Before the blasts, Yakub was an enemy of the Indian state, guilty of participating in mass murder of innocent people of Mumbai. Much of this radicalization and the resultant blood-lust, it has been clearly established, was a result of Tiger’s decision to destroy Mumbai. All available accounts indicate Tiger was the original black sheep of the Memon family; a smuggler with links to the underworld and the ISI. Tiger’s evil influence played a huge role in dragging the other Memons into the vortex of crime that culminated in the tragic finale, both for Mumbai and the Memons.
After the blasts, Yakub turned into Tiger’s enemy, a role that led him to his ultimate ruin. In his interview with Madhu Trehan for Newstrack, Yakub describes in great detail his brother’s activities in Pakistan, links with Taufiq Jalianwala (the Pakistan-based mastermind of the blast) and the evidence he collected to nail his brother’s complicity.
Tiger shouldn’t forget that his brother died because he wanted to dissociate the family with his (Tiger’s) heinous crime. He returned to India, or at least had wanted to before being caught in Nepal, to establish Tiger’s guilt and tell the world that the Memons were paying for the sins of just one person in the family.
Perhaps Tiger can ask himself a simple question: What did he do to save Yakub? For two decades, while Yakub tried to clear his own and family’s name, Tiger hid in his gilded cage in Pakistan, enjoying the hospitality of the ISI. Not once did he make a statement that could have helped Yakub, not once did he make any attempt to buttress Yakub’s claim that he was innocent.
This is not to say that Tiger’s statement or efforts would have made a major difference to the outcome of Yakub’s trial. But, it shows that Tiger preferred his own life and safety over that of his brother and family. His tears now, if any, would be a sham.
The least Tiger can do now is to learn from his brother’s final years. Though he waged a war against India, Yakub returned to his motherland to face the law; he ensured that his family lives in India instead of becoming glorified prisoners of the Pakistani Deep State; he fought for restoring the honour of the Memons. And, though he was a criminal, with his conduct before death, Yakub earned the sympathy of several Indians.
Or, perhaps, Tiger can listen to his own mother when she says: “Bas bahut ho gaya…ab aur main nahin dekh sakti…main nahin dekh sakti…main nahin dekh sakti.”
But, it would be too much to expect a man who betrayed his motherland to be loyal to his mother.
According to a report published by a leading daily, diktat of Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel may have been behind the huge turn-up at Yakub Memon’s funeral procession
Hemant Padalkar
dna Research & Archives
On July 30, a sizeable crowd was present to pay their last respects to convicted terrorist Yakub Memon, who was hanged for his involvement in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts where 257 people lost their lives. According to a report published by a leading daily, the diktat of Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel may have been behind the huge turn-up at Yakub Memon’s funeral procession. The daily quoted its source in the Mumbai police as saying that underworld don Dawood and Shakeel called up several of their associates in Mumbai and asked them to attend the funeral. Dawood along with Tiger Memon are the masterminds behind the infamous blasts which rocked Mumbai in 1993. Indian government and law enforcement agencies have been unable to bring them back so far.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Incidentally, just a day after the hanging, Chhota Shakeel called up a newspaper office and accused the government of committing a legal murder. He also accused the government of betraying Yakub Memon. According to Shakeel, India’s ‘betrayal’ has effectively ended all possibility of Dawood Ibrahim returning to India. “Dawood bhai would have met the same fate if he would have come at that time… it is clear now,” said Shakeel. However, Muslim community members believe the huge footfall in Yakoob’s last procession was primarily driven by curiosity factor of people who have never seen him before. Also, they thronged in large number to attend last rites of a person who belonged to their religion. There are conflicting reports of the exact footfall in Yakub’s funeral procession and numbers vary from 5,000 to 15,000. But Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy created furore by saying that all those who attended except close family and friends should be tracked as there may be ‘potential terrorists’ in the crowd. This new revelation is only going to reignite the debate about the nature of individuals who attended he funeral.
‘Zaya nahin jayega, main unko chukwaonga,’ says Tiger Memon, in a conversation he reportedly had with his mother Hanifa, hours before brother Yakub was hanged. Implicit in Tiger’s words is his vow for revenge, pledge for making Yakub’s killers pay for the act, not letting his mother’s tears go waste.
But, does Tiger really know who killed Yakub? Who was responsible for letting a bright, young accountant turn first into a terrorist and then a fugitive? Who forced Yakub to spend 20 years in jail, torn between fear of impending death and hope of freedom? Who sent Yakub to the gallows? Who was Yakub’s real enemy?
Yes, the Indian state hanged Yakub. But, his death warrant was signed the moment Tiger dragged him and the rest of the family into the Mumbai bomb blasts; Yakub’s fate was sealed when his elder brother made him a co-conspirator and then a guest of the ISI.
Tiger Memon and Yakub Memon. Agencies
His mother Hanifa is right. “Pehle ke vajah se mera Yakub gaya,”she told Tiger during the brief conversation. Even the mother knows her son died because of what Tiger did pehle (earlier). Will Tiger make the real culprit pay? Will he make his mother’s tears count by acting against the man who killed Yakub?
On the basis of evidence, both recorded and anecdotal, Yakub’s life can be clearly divided into two parts. Both were scripted by Tiger, first as his brother and inspiration; then as an adversary.
Before the blasts, Yakub was an enemy of the Indian state, guilty of participating in mass murder of innocent people of Mumbai. Much of this radicalization and the resultant blood-lust, it has been clearly established, was a result of Tiger’s decision to destroy Mumbai. All available accounts indicate Tiger was the original black sheep of the Memon family; a smuggler with links to the underworld and the ISI. Tiger’s evil influence played a huge role in dragging the other Memons into the vortex of crime that culminated in the tragic finale, both for Mumbai and the Memons.
After the blasts, Yakub turned into Tiger’s enemy, a role that led him to his ultimate ruin. In his interview with Madhu Trehan for Newstrack, Yakub describes in great detail his brother’s activities in Pakistan, links with Taufiq Jalianwala (the Pakistan-based mastermind of the blast) and the evidence he collected to nail his brother’s complicity.
Tiger shouldn’t forget that his brother died because he wanted to dissociate the family with his (Tiger’s) heinous crime. He returned to India, or at least had wanted to before being caught in Nepal, to establish Tiger’s guilt and tell the world that the Memons were paying for the sins of just one person in the family.
Perhaps Tiger can ask himself a simple question: What did he do to save Yakub? For two decades, while Yakub tried to clear his own and family’s name, Tiger hid in his gilded cage in Pakistan, enjoying the hospitality of the ISI. Not once did he make a statement that could have helped Yakub, not once did he make any attempt to buttress Yakub’s claim that he was innocent.
This is not to say that Tiger’s statement or efforts would have made a major difference to the outcome of Yakub’s trial. But, it shows that Tiger preferred his own life and safety over that of his brother and family. His tears now, if any, would be a sham.
The least Tiger can do now is to learn from his brother’s final years. Though he waged a war against India, Yakub returned to his motherland to face the law; he ensured that his family lives in India instead of becoming glorified prisoners of the Pakistani Deep State; he fought for restoring the honour of the Memons. And, though he was a criminal, with his conduct before death, Yakub earned the sympathy of several Indians.
Or, perhaps, Tiger can listen to his own mother when she says: “Bas bahut ho gaya…ab aur main nahin dekh sakti…main nahin dekh sakti…main nahin dekh sakti.”
But, it would be too much to expect a man who betrayed his motherland to be loyal to his mother.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Friday downplayed reports of 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind Tiger Memon threatening to take revenge for his brother Yakub’s execution, saying the government and the people of this country are capable of tackling any situation.”India is a strong nation. The intention of our government is very clear. The Indian Government as well as the people are capable enough to tackle any situation,” Rijiju told ANI. “The terrorists regularly do these kinds of activities like calling on telephones and threatening people. The government will take every possible measure in consultation with the security agencies in the present case,” he added. According to reports, hours before 1993 blasts convict Yakub was hanged on July 30, his older brother Tiger called his family in Mumbai and threatened to avenge the death.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Also Read: Hours before Yakub was hanged, Tiger Memon called their mother and talked of revengeThe Minister of State for Home further commenting on Pakistan disowning Naved, the terrorist arrested from Udhampur, said Islamabad should not promote terrorism because they too will have to bear its repercussions.”Pakistan, like us, is aware of all the activities and wrong deeds done by ISI and other agencies situated in their homeland. But they are not ready to accept this because they have to take a stand. Pakistan will never accept that in public that they are doing these wrong things,” he added.Pakistan on Thursday went in denial mode over assertions from India that the terrorist caught alive after the ambush on a BSF convoy in Udhampur on Wednesday was a Pakistani national. Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Syed Qazi Khalilullah said the Indian claim was baseless.
The controversial VHP leader had stirred another row by reportedly saying, “It is a big misfortune that in the Indian Parliament, we have one-two terrorists sitting there.
Photo Courtesy: ANI Twitter
Taking strong exception to VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi’s ‘terrorists’ remarks, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari on Friday said the former’s statement is an insult to the Parliament. “I take strong objection to the statement of Sadhvi Prachi. This is an insult to the constitution, this is an insult of the democracy and this is an insult of the Parliament. Parliament is a place where we go for discussion, we make the law and if she is calling that ?terrorists are sitting there?, then she is insulting the Parliament of India,”Tiwari told ANI.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”I request the BJP to persuade and issue instruction to their fellow members…any statement should not come which creates any bitterness among the people,” he added. The controversial VHP leader had stirred another row by reportedly saying, “It is a big misfortune that in the Indian Parliament, we have one-two terrorists sitting there. I do not think there can be a bigger misfortune for India than this as they who, are disobeying the judgement of a court, because the court has proved that he (Yakub) is a terrorist. When the court has already proved so, those supporting the terrorist are terrorists themselves I believe.”
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi is at it again. This time she has stoked a fresh controversy by claiming that there are one or two terrorists in Parliament.
Sadhvi Prachi said that there are one or two terrorists in the Parliament. IBNLive
Talking about the terrorist captured during the Udhampur terror attack, Prachi on Thursday said that he should be handed over to Hindu organisations. “I humbly request the Centre to hand over the terrorist to Hindu organisations after getting all the information from him,” she was quoted as saying by News18.
She further alleged that even Parliament was sheltering some terrorists in the form of MPs.
The saffron leader was speaking to mediapersons in Roorkee when asked about some opposition to death penalty for 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon who was hanged on 30 July in a Nagpur prison. “It is a big misfortune that in the Indian Parliament, we have one-two terrorists sitting there. I do not think there can be a bigger misfortune for India than this as they who, are disobeying the judgement of a court, because the court has proved that he(Yakub) is a terrorist. When the court has already proved so, those supporting the terrorist are terrorists themselves I believe,” she said.
When she was later questioned about who she referred to as terrorists in Parliament, Prachi lashed out at the media and told India Today, “You want to twist my statement and you want me to take names needlessly.”
She also said that her statement was only against those who talked about breaking up the nation. “My statement was against those who speak against the death penalty. They are insulting the Supreme Court. They should be punished,” she said.
“Kuchch log Yakub Memon ke marne pe aise ro rahe hain jaise Raavan ke marne pe Mandodari chhaati peet ke ro rahi thi (Some people are crying over Yakub Memon’s death just like the way Mandodari was helplessly crying after Raavan’s death),” Prachi said.
Shortly after Yakub’s execution, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had said he was saddened by the hanging of the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and said that the “state-sponsored killing diminishes us all by reducing us to murderers too.” Tharoor also argued against the death penalty.
On being asked on what Sadhvi Prachi thought about BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha also having opposed Memon’s death penalty earlier, Prachi lost her cool again, changed her stance and said that her statements were only against “the terrorist who said it is fun to kill Hindus.”
This is not the first time Prachi has made a controversial remark.
Earlier in March, Prachi had said that Hindus should boycott movies by the three Khans of Bollywood because they promote ‘love jihad’. Not only that, earlier she even offered matrimonial advice to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi saying he should marry an Indian girl.
In February, Prachi said that the ‘Ghar Wapsi’ programme will continue till the 15 crore people who, she claimed, have left the Hindu fold post-Independence, are “reconverted to Hinduism”.
“The ‘Ghar Wapsi’ programme launched by some Hindutva organisations would continue until all the fifteen crore people who have left the Hindutva fold after Independence are reconverted to Hinduism,” Prachi had said.
The Hindutva leader had sent out shock waves earlier by questioning the Father of the Nation title to Mahatma Gandhi and by calling it “unwarranted”.
“The title of the Father of Nation to Gandhi was unwarranted because the true sacrifice for attaining freedom was carried out by others,” she had said.
Prachi had also urged Hindus to have four children. “Earlier we used to say hum do hamare do. But now we have started saying that sher ka bachcha ek hi achha (for a lion, one offspring is enough). This is wrong…If there is one child, where all will you send him? To protect the border… or make him a scientist or he will take care of business…. So, we need four children. One can go to protect the borders, one can serve the society, give one to the saints and one to VHP to serve the nation and protect the culture. This is very important,” she said.
Prachi contested the 2012 Assembly elections on BJP ticket from Purkazi constituency in Uttar Pradesh. She was among persons accused of inciting riots through their provocative speeches at Muzaffarnagar in 2013 and was later granted bail.
Prachi’s controversial outburst that sparked an outrage also saw her asking the Centre to hand over the Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Naved Yakub arrested in Udhampur on Wednesday to Hindu organizations so that he is taught a “good lesson”.
Sadhvi Prachi
Photo Courtesy: ANI Twitter
Firebrand VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi triggered another controversy on Thursday by alleging there are “one or two terrorists” in Parliament in remarks that appeared to be targeting MPs who were against hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon.Prachi’s controversial outburst that sparked an outrage also saw her asking the Centre to hand over the Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Naved Yakub arrested in Udhampur on Wednesday to Hindu organizations so that he is taught a “good lesson”. The saffron leader was speaking to mediapersons in Roorkee when asked about some opposition to death penalty for Memon who was hanged on July 30 in a Nagpur prison.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”It is a big misfortune that in the Indian Parliament, we have one-two terrorists sitting there. I do not think there can be a bigger misfortune for India than this as they who, are disobeying the judgement of a court, because the court has proved that he(Yakub) is a terrorist.When the court has already proved so, those supporting the terrorist are terrorists themselves I believe,” she said.Shortly after Yakub’s execution, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said he was saddened by the hanging of the lone death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and said that the “state-sponsored killing diminishes us all by reducing us to murderers too.” Tharoor also argued against the death penalty.”Yakub Memon hanged. Exemplary urgency and commitment has been shown by Govt and Judiciary in punishing an accused of Terror,” said another Congress leader Digvijay Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP. Congress took on the Sadhvi for her remarks against parliamentarians and demanded action against the Hindutva leader.”The Parliament belongs to all of us. The Constitution has said that Parliament is the temple of democracy. And if someone calls those sitting inside it, as terrorists, then it is not just an insult to the Parliament but also the Constitution. I think it is the right time that Speaker Sumitra Mahajan takes action,” Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said.The Sadhvi also wanted the Pakistani terrorist captured yesterday to be handed over to Hindu organisations after questioning.”It is my humble request to the Centre that after the security agencies are through with their necessary investigations the arrested Pakistani terrorist should be handed over to Hindu outfits which alone can teach him a good lesson,” she added.Be it calling for a boycott of films starring Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan and asking right wing Hindu outfits to make a bonfire of posters of their films or calling Mahatma Gandhi a British agent the Sadhvi has been at the centre of a series of controversies.
Giving details about yesterday’s incident, Singh said the apprehended terrorist was Mohammad Naveed Yakub alias Usman, a resident of Faisalabad in Pakistan, and he had identified his slain accomplice as Mohammad Nomen alias Nomin, a resident of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Arrested terrorist Usman.
The terror strike in Udhampur is a part of “persistent attempts by terrorists” from Pakistan to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir, government told the Lok Sabha today while informing that the two attackers had infiltrated from across the border.Making a suo motu statement in both Houses of Parliament on yesterday’s attack, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the interrogation of one of the two terrorists, who was captured alive, is expected to reveal their modus operandi, including the details of their infiltration from across the border and their targets.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”We strongly condemn the attack and the persistent attempts by terrorists from across the border to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.He said that there were five infiltration attempts in a month, four of which were foiled and eight terrorists were neutralised.Giving details about yesterday’s incident, Singh said the apprehended terrorist was Mohammad Naveed Yakub alias Usman, a resident of Faisalabad in Pakistan, and he had identified his slain accomplice as Mohammad Nomen alias Nomin, a resident of Bahawalpur, Pakistan.Usman was brought to Jammu, where he is being questioned by the authorities concerned, he said.He said the BSF personnel had been martyred in yesterday’s attack. They were Rocky, a resident of Yamuna Nagar in Haryana, and Subhendu Roy of Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. 14 other BSF personnel were injured in the attack that took place around 18 kms from Udhampur town.Two AK-47 rifles along with some magazines, grenades and ammunition were recovered from the terrorists and a FIR has been registered at Chenani Police Station, the Home Minister said, adding further investigation of the case is in progress.”The government remains committed to combating terrorism with a strong resolve and ensuring the safety and security of our citizens and our security personnel,” he said in the identical statements made in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.Expressing condolences to the families of the two BSF personnel who were killed in the attack on Jammu-Srinagar highway, Singh said the country was behind those injured in this mindless act of violence.”The security forces, including the BSF, Jammu and Kashmir Police, and the CRPF have shown exemplary courage in thwarting the attack with minimum casualties.”Besides the ex-gratia compensation and jobs to be provided to the families of the martyred BSF personnel, we will also consider them and others who displayed courage and bravery in the incident for immediate award of the Gallantry Medal,” he said.The Home Minister also applauded the courage of the unarmed villagers, who “despite grave risk to their lives overpowered a fully armed militant” without consideration for their own security.”We will take up the matter with the state government for suitably recognising their conspicuous act of valour,” he said.In Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said any attack from across the border particulary from Pakistan was a matter of great concern for the country.Azad also said that “whenever House is in order, we would like a full-fledged discussion on the issue. Presently, there should be no discussion and questions on his statement,” he said.
The approver allegedly received death threats after Yakub Memon was hanged in Nagpur Jail.
File Photo
PTI
A key accused-turned-approver in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case approached the Mumbai police on Tuesday complaining of threats to his life. The alleged threat calls came a day after Yakub Memon’s hanging on July 30 in Nagpur.According to Mumbai Police, the approver received the calls on his mobile phone twice in an interval of 15 minutes. Preliminary inquiries reveal that the calls were made from public booths in Byculla and Dongri areas. The alleged threat calls:
Tumne achcha nahi kiya, tumhe mein maar dunga (You did a bad thing. I will kill you)
Tere vajah se bekasur Yakub sooli par chadh gaya, ab bas tere zindagi ki ulti ginthi chaloo samajh (Innocent Yakub was hanged because of you, start counting your days now)
Jitna mazaa karna hai karlo tumhare din bhar gaye hai (Have as much fun as you can, your days are numbered).
<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The approver (name undisclosed) filed a written complaint at the Byculla police station five days after he received the threat calls on July 31. The Byculla police have registered a non-cognisable offence and are investigating the matter.A police officer was quoted saying that the approver has been provided with police protection.Mumbai police officials suspect it to be a handiwork of gangster Chhota Shakeel allegedly backed by Pakistan’s Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) intending to take revenge for Yakub’s hanging. The suspicion is built upon Shakeel’s statement where he called Yakub’s hanging a ‘legal’ murder..There were only two accused-turned-approvers in the 1993 serial blasts case who were allowed to walk free in 2007, following their testimony against the other perpetrators. Another approver too had returned to Mumbai in March this year after he had sensed pressure from the Dawood gang.An English daily quoted him saying, “While I was in Dubai, there was pressure from the underworld elements and ISI. I got scared and preferred to return. Recently I have been getting calls from international numbers and over VoIP which I am not picking. I have intimated this to Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria.”
Zuber Ahmed Khan, who claims to be a journalist has expressed desire to join Islamic State by renouncing his Indian citizenship.
Representational picture
Days after execution of 1993 Bombay blast convict Yakub Memon, Mumbai Police is on the lookout for one of his sympathisers. Zuber Ahmed Khan, who claims to be a journalist, has expressed desire to join Islamic State by renouncing his Indian citizenship. Khan has reportedly made several controversial posts on social media before and after the execution of Memon.In his posts, he claims that Memon was innocent, calls the government a terrorist and accuses the judiciary of being biased. Khan also threatens that every day new Yakubs will take birth to destroy India. <!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>His posts went viral and alerted the Mumbai police. According to IBN Live, he was tracked down to Bandra, but when the police reached the area he had already fled. So far, no cases have been registered against Zuber Ahmed Khan.In an open letter to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Khan expresses desire to become the official spokesperson of the group stating that he has the requisite qualification. He claimed that he has done research on the ‘atrocities’ done by government, police and Hindu terrorists. Khan cited two other people and wanted to join ISIS like them. Police has been on high alert to prevent any kind of communal tension after the execution of Yakub Memon. But it’s left to be seen how soon they can nab Zuber Khan.
Mumbai: National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Tuesday defended death penalty where “larger interest of the nation” is involved and deprecated those who questioned the execution of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon.
NSA Ajit Doval slammed Shashi Tharoor for tweeting against Yakub Memon’s execution. AFP
Disapproving of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor’s remarks in the aftermath of Memon’s hanging, Doval said something that is in the “larger interest of the nation” must prevail.
“In the evening last Thursday (the day Yakub Memon was hanged), somebody tweeted me a statement by an important leader that — state sponsored killings diminish us all, reduce us to murderers,” Doval said, delivering a lecture in Mumbai on Tuesday evening.
“I am not going into the propriety, exigency or the correctness of the statement. There is something which is in public interest, in the larger interests of the nation and of generations of Indians yet to take birth,” he said, without naming Tharoor, but the reference was obvious.
Doval referred to President George W Bush’s address to the US Congress after the 9/11 attacks to defend exercise of such deterrence.
“After the 9/11 attacks, then US President George W Bush had told the US Congress, that America values its freedom, but should it come in conflict with interests of the state, the latter will prevail,” Doval said.
Striking an aggressive note, the NSA said, “Power is not as good as you have it, but as good as you can exercise.”
“So, India has a mindset where it hits, it punches below its weight, we have to punch not above our weight, we have to punch not below our weight. We have to increase our weight and punch proportionally,” he said delivering a lecture on ‘State Security, State Craft and Conflict of Values’.
Doval said “weakness” of a nation includes “unjustified tolerance”.
“State-sponsored killing diminishes us all, by reducing us to murderers too. Death penalty is wrong in principle and practice. Lots of studies have been conducted which confirm that death penalty has no deterrent effect, statistics also suggest that,” Tharoor had tweeted after Memon’s hanging.
Noting that there has always been a talk on just laws and unjust laws and about correct interventions and incorrect interventions, the NSA said,”The scriptures have addressed this dilemma and come to own conclusions.
“The Bhagvad Gita says, if you can bring pleasure and pain on the same pedestal, loss and profit and victory and defeat on the same pedestal, and thereafter you do whatever you have to do in the battle, you will be committing no sin,” he said.
Doval also quoted a verse from the Quran to explain his point of view.
Doval also said it is not right to say that India executed Yakub as “revenge” for not being able to get hold of his brother Tiger Memon.
“I don’t agree with it at all. The fact is that India should take Tiger Memon to the logical judicial consequence. It is not about what is right and what is wrong. Yakub and Tiger are two standalone things.
“There is no revenge. He (Yakub) was tried through the due process of law. I don’t think there is any interlinkage (between Yakub and Tiger),” Doval said, answering questions from the audience after the lecture.
He was asked to comment on the perception that India executed Yakub to exact revenge for not being able to apprehend Tiger Memon, the mastermind of the blasts.
In the wake of the execution of 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon last week, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding “swift action” on the findings of the Srikrishna Commission.
Abu Azmi
In the wake of the execution of 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon last week, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding “swift action” on the findings of the Srikrishna Commission.”The decision to hang Yakub for his involvement in the Mumbai bomb blasts was taken by the Supreme Court and we respect its decision,” Azmi, Maharashtra unit chief of SP, said in the letter.”Just as the Maharashtra government was swift in implementing the SC’s decision, it should act fast in giving justice to the victims of the Mumbai communal riots (between December 1992 and January 1993) as well. We expect the government to take swift action on the findings of Justice B N Srikrishna in his report,” he added.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Quoting the Srikrishna panel report, Azmi said that around 900 people had lost their lives in the communal clashes and most of them were from the minority community.”Page number 47 of the report of Justice Srikrishna commission clearly states that a senior IPS officer had then admitted that the communal riots of 1992-93 were a result of the demolition of the Babri masjid in Ayodhya.”Thus, if the perpetrator of the 1993 bomb blasts is given a death sentence, and those responsible for the communal riots are not punished, people whose families have lost their lives in the communal riots and whose properties were destroyed, feel that the government is doing injustice to them,” the letter stated.He further stated that the “publicity” and the “marketing gimmicks” of the Centre and the state government in the hanging of Memon has reopened old wounds of those affected by communal riots, as thousands were killed and property worth crores (of rupees) was destroyed.”The Samajwadi Party believes that the previous Congress-NCP government is responsible for not implementing the findings of the Srikrishna report. But even your government has not taken any steps towards the implementation of the findings,” Azmi stated.The Srikrishna Commission was set up by the state government to probe incidents of widespread rioting between December 1992 and January 1993 and damage and loss to the city during that period. One of the terms of reference for the Commission was to see if the riots and the blasts were linked.
Coming down heavily on “the open and tacit supporters” of Memon, Singh urged the Government “not to bother about such people” saying, “Most Indians, irrespective of religion, will support the Government if it can convey it means business.”
Supporting death penalty for terrorists, former CBI Director Joginder Singh has accused Yakub Memon, hanged for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, and his supporters of misusing India’s liberal laws and called for an overhaul of anti-terror legislations.In an article in RSS organ “Organizer”, the former CBI Director hit out at rights activists opposing death sentence to Memon, saying they did so for the sake of publicity. He also made a strong case for change in anti-terror laws saying India was unable to fight extremists because the then Government in 2004 had repealed anti-terror laws in the name of vote bank politics. “India has failed to tackle terrorism for the simple reason that all terrorism laws were repealed by the then Government in 2004, for appeasement, vote bank politics…<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>There is no effective law to deal with the terrorism in our country… It is rather overdue to change the policies, laws and approach, which has failed to deliver. Yakub Memon case shows, how the terrorists use every opportunity, to misuse the liberal laws of India. Despite being slated to be hanged on July 30, he filed a case in the Supreme Court and to delay, sent a mercy petition to the President, which had been rejected,” Singh said.Coming down heavily on “the open and tacit supporters” of Memon, Singh urged the Government “not to bother about such people” saying, “Most Indians, irrespective of religion, will support the Government if it can convey it means business.” Singh also launched a scathing attack on activists arguing against death penalty for terrorists saying, “There are more unpaid advisers and so-called rights activists, than the problem, the country has faced.Instead of ensuring good governance, such people are finding fault with everything. Since they can’t criticise the judiciary, they egg the criminals to go on approaching apex curt again and again to delay the cases.Obviously, it is for the purpose of getting publicity in the media.” The former chief of RPF, Joginder Singh quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who had on July 15, 1985 in a speech to the American Bar Association called for “starving the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity and asking the media to agree among themselves to a voluntary code of conduct… under which they would not say or show anything which could assist the terrorists’ morale or their cause…” Arguing for the “bullet for bullet” policy against terrorists advocated by two former top cops including the then Punjab DGPs JF Rebeiro and KPS Gill, Singh said, “Even for dealing with terrorists, there are many bleeding hearts which are critical of the Bullet for Bullet Policy initiated by a former DGP and followed by his successor.” Former CBI chief while ruing that current laws demanded independent witnesses for everything said, “It foxes me as to how do you expect independent witnesses to be at the scene of every terrorist attack…The laws specifically say no confession made to the police, irrespective of the rank, is admissible in the court…Now the Police think twice before even dispersing the crowds lest they be accused of use of excessive force…We need to ask as to what comes first: rights of common man or the Rights of Terrorist?” Another article in the “Organizer” argued that Yakub Memon’s religion had no role to play in awarding him the capital punishment and that he paid for his deeds.”While prime time discussions are trying to portray the Mumbai blasts verdict as a human rights issue, it is not fair in a secular democracy to debate one’s religion after the Supreme Court has found him guilty and awarded him capital punishment,” says the article. Yakub Memon, a Mumbai-based chartered accountant and younger brother of Tiger Memon, one of the masterminds of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts which claimed the lives of 257 innocent Indians and left over 700 injured, “paid for his deeds”.It added that people who argue otherwise are not well-wishers of Muslims in India. The article also says that while murdering innocent people is not a part of Sharia Law, Sharia can punish persons for bad public behaviour, private behaviour and private beliefs and also murderers.”Yakub Memon is not an innocent guy. He is involved in the massive killing of 257 odd people. When he did such a heinous crime, then why the Sharia Law was silent in such cases? Muslims have always tried to take advantage of their religion, says the article.
There are several versions of what happened minutes before Yakub Memon was hanged and the latest reports suggest that he had told the jail officials that he would forgive them because they were only doing their duty.
The Indian Express reported that Yakub Memon’s last words were, “Main aur mera rab hi janta hai ki asliyat kya hai. Aap log toh duty kar rahe hain isliye main aapko maaf karta hoon (I and my God know the truth. You people are just doing your duty, so I forgive you).”
Yakub Memon. Ibnlive
Yakub Memon was hanged on Thursday, 30 July after being convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. His hanging took place despite last minute efforts by his lawyers to delay it. In an unprecedented move a three-judge Supreme Court had heard is curative petition at 3 am on the day of his hanging.
Sources told The Indian Express that Memon was calm and composed has he walked to the gallows after being brought out of his barack at 6.50 am. As he walked on the elevated platform, a constable said “chappal” after which he said, “Haan, nikal leta hoon” and promptly took them off.
In another report, Mid-Day claims that Memon kept telling jail officials that he was paying for his brother Tiger Memon’s sins.
Yakub’s Nagpur lawyer, Anil Gedam was quoted by Mid-Day as saying, “Yakub kept repeating that he was going to be hanged for his brother’s sins, if at all, and that he had not done anything wrong.”
A Mumbai Mirror report quoted unnamed prison officials that Memon had turned away his meals in prison after his curative plea was rejected by the apex court on 21 July and he was put on a saline drip to ensue he could be classified ‘fit for execution’.
There were also reports that claimed Memon had hallucinations and was filled with rage before the execution, but Times of India quoted a Nagpur jail official as saying that Yakub was calm to the very end.
Memon was the only person sentenced to death for his involvement in the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, that killed 257 people. A Tada court had convicted 100 persons for their involvement in the blasts, including other members of the Memon family who were found guilty of abetting the conspiracy to carry out the blasts. He was convicted on charges of participating in the conspiracy to carry out the blasts.
A Times of India report said that Yakub had written a final mercy petition to be given to the president on the night before his hanging but it wasn’t delivered. He read the Quran late into Wednesday night. When he woke on the morning of his execution at 5 am, the first question he reportedly asked was about his mercy petition.
Among the grounds for Memon seeking his death penalty being commuted was the fact that he was suffering from schizophrenia, a ground that had been exploited by another convicted by another death convict Devinder Pal Bhullar. While the Nagpur prison officials certified him mentally and physically fit to be executed, the Mirror report quoted prison officials as saying that doctors who were monitoring his condition said that he was ‘overcome with hallucinations’ before the hanging.
There was no birthday cake for Yakub or last minute call to his 21-year-old daughter. He was taken for one last medical check up before being taken to the gallows, reported the Telegraph.
An official told the newspaper that the body was kept hanging for a half hour in keeping with procedure and was then shifted to the prison hospital for a post-mortem. “The body was later embalmed, placed in a coffin and flown to Mumbai,” the official said.
As per prison schedule, he would have been woken (if asleep) around 3:30 am, allowed to take a bath, permitted to read a religious text and would then have been offered a final breakfast. The Times of India said that the prison authorities didn’t call any maulvi to be present. It isn’t very clear if one was finally allowed in prison to meet with Yakub before he was finally executed at 6:43 am on Thursday.
In an almost eerie coincidence, APJ Abdul Kalam- the former President of India- died just a few days ago before another Indian Muslim, Yakub Menon – sentenced and convicted for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts – was hanged to death. Kalam’s death was greeted with shock and condoled across a cross section of India’s society and polity. Yakub was roundly condemned, reviled and hated for his alleged role in the Mumbai bombings. Whatever the nature of the arguments for hanging Memon, – the revulsion towards him by the majority community and the accolades for Kalam-, the two deaths and the reaction to these appear to reflect a dichotomous and contradictory typology present in India temporarily: the ‘Good Muslim’ and the ‘Bad Muslim’.
Yakub Memon, in this imaginary, falls in the ‘Bad Muslim’ category and Kalam in the ‘Good Muslim’ one. The ‘Good Muslim ‘ is one who is assimilated into the cultural, social and politico-economic fabric of India and says the ‘right’ things- the Khans of Bollywood spring to mind here. ‘Bad Muslims’ can fill in any void in the ‘othering’ schema of the imaginary of the majority community- the skull cap wearing and bearded Muslim man or the burkha-clad Muslim woman, to cite a couple of instances.
PTI image
This dichotomy and binary raises questions about the nature of secularism in India , or what Sunil Khilnani, called the Idea of India. Indian secularism, in theory, differs from its Western variant or even progenitor. The former, given the nature, diversity – religious, ethnic and cultural – and fault lines that define India, acknowledges the existence of religion in the public sphere wherein the state accords equal treatment to all religions. The recognition accorded to Muslim Personal Law in India is held as an instance of this variety of secularism. The ‘Idea of India’ that emanated and accrued from this configuration was held by Khilnani to be the fullest manifestation of ‘plural liberalism’ that “skillfully mediated an ungainly, unlikely and inelegant concatenation of differences”. Or, in other words, it was held to be the essence and epitome of political modernity. The architects of the concept and idea were Nehru and his other like-minded elites.
However, the condition of Muslims in India appears to offer a sharp contrapuntal to ‘India’s peculiar path to political modernity’. The hanging of Memon or even Afzal Guru perhaps indicate and reflect that the Idea of India as touted by elitist intellectuals is more theoretical than real. Would Memon or Afzal have been hanged if rights were real, rather than notional, in the country? The implication here is not that the rights of Memon and Afzal were abrogated.(Perhaps they were and perhaps they were not). The issue pertains to the rights of Muslim minorities in India.
By any indicator , Muslims in India conform to what Victor Hugo called, in a different permutation and condition, Les Miserables. A sullen mass of peoples, Muslims live on the fringes of economic, social and political life of the country. The reasons are both structural and idiosyncratic but it cannot be gainsaid that the Muslim condition in India is rather wretched. One major consequence of this condition is the non-presence of Muslims in India’s political and public life (save a handful of ‘Good Muslims’). The corollary here is the that political rights for Muslims exist in the domain of theory and arcane constitutionalism.
The absence of Muslims in India’s politico-economic and public spheres means that they can be taken for granted (used as vote banks) or in the Far Right’s schema, a foil for the Othering of India. It also means Memons and Afzals of the country can be hanged at will. Cumulatively, all this means that plural liberalism in the country is more a theoretical construct formulated and adumbrated upon by elitist intellectuals in the cool and cushy confines of the Western academy. This is as sad as can be.
The future of a whole community is contingent on the vigorous practice and reification of plural liberalism. But alas, theory does not appear to meet reality in India. What would be the long term implications and consequences of this fall in the domain of the ‘unknown unknown’. The assertions stated here will be challenged and even impugned. If, however, the premises and hypotheses offered here are held to be wrong, I would close by citing a quote- which carries the essence of plural liberalism- of the doyen of the philosophy, Isaiah Berlin. According to Berlin:
“Let us have the courage of our admitted ignorance, of our doubts and uncertainties. At least we can try to discover what others require, by making it possible for ourselves to know men as they truly are, by listening to them carefully and sympathetically, and understanding them and their lives and their needs…’
Who in the country, I dare ask, knows Muslims as they are? Who listens carefully and sympathetically? Who understands Muslims’ needs and lives? Suffice it to say that I am happy to review my assumptions and hypotheses if a robust answer is provided to these questions.
A Supreme Court Deputy Registrar has resigned attacking the judgement clearing the death penalty for 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon, saying two decisions within a span of hours are instances of “judicial abdication” that should count among the “darkest hours” of the apex court.
Yakub Memon
A Supreme Court Deputy Registrar has resigned attacking the judgement clearing the death penalty for 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon, saying two decisions within a span of hours are instances of “judicial abdication” that should count among the “darkest hours” of the apex court.Professor Anup Surendranath, Deputy Registrar (Research), who was appointed more than a year ago on contract, resigned on July 30, the day Memon was hanged to death two hours after the court had upheld the death warrant.His resignation, which has come in the midst of a raging debate over death penalty and whether it should be used as a form of the State avenging a crime, has been accepted and he has been relieved, court sources said.There are nearly 20 deputy registrars, a few of whom have been inducted from outside judiciary.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”It would be silly and naive to see the events of the last 24 hours at the Supreme Court as some triumph of the rule of law the two orders at 4 pm on 29th July and 5 am on 30th July (and the reasoning adopted therein) are instances of judicial abdication that must count amongst the darkest hours for the Supreme Court of India.,” Surendranath had remarked n July 30.Surendranath is a faculty member of National Law University, Delhi, and Director of Death Penalty Research Project. He was also associated with the filing of the petition for stay of Memon’s death warrant.”I have been contemplating this for a while now for a variety of reasons, but what was played out this week at the Supreme Court was the proverbial final nail–I have resigned from my post at the Supreme Court to focus on death penalty work at the University.”It is in many ways liberating to to regain the freedom to write whatever I want and I hope to make full use of that in the next few days to discuss the events that transpired at the Supreme Court this week,” he wrote on the social networking site.When contacted, he said he has nothing more to state than what he has posted on his site.
Salim Khan spoke to Rajdeep Sardesai and reacted to the furore started by Salman Khan’s tweets about Yakub Memon’s hanging.
Salim Khan said that Salman Khan was being targeted for being a celebrity and a Muslim and there were others who wanted mercy for Yakub Memon. He also said that Narendra Modi wasn’t communal and should be blamed for 1992 riots.Speaking to India Today’s, Rajdeep Sardesai after Salman Khan’s controversial tweet, Salim Khan, said that Salman is being targeted for being a Muslim and a celebrity. He even blamed BJP leader Ashish Shelar who he said had an agenda against Salman Khan. Salim Khan said: “”In this particular case, I can tell you that it was all done by BJP leader Ashish Shelar. He had openly said that he will hit Salman hard whenever he gets an opportunity.”<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>He also said that he was the first person to condemn Salman’s tweets, and claimed that people got more publicity when they attacked Salman. He said: “Salman should not have tweeted things about which he has little knowledge. “It was his foolishness. He said what all he must have heard,” Salim Khan said. “Many people had opposed the court’s verdict awarding death sentence to Yakub, but may be Salman’s way of putting things was a bit childish. Salman’s celeb status is being taken advantage of.” He said that Shelar had promised to “hit” Salman, when he got an opportunity. He also claimed that the people protesting at their house, were against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Salim also reminisced about the good old days when there was less controversy and claimed that politicians were creating a rift between the two communities.He said that the Adityanaths and Owaisis are diving society. When Sardesai asks what he thinks about Narendra Modi, Salim said that Modi is not a communal person. When asked about the 2002 riots, he points that things might have been out of his control and no one remembered the names of chief ministers in whose states riots took place like the 1992 Mumbai riots under Sudhakarrao Naik.When asked what he thought about terms like Hindu terror and Muslim terror, Salim reminded Sardesai that true Islam considered, even killing one innocent person, a heinous crime.When Sardesai brings up the oft-repeated ‘Go to Pakistan’ jibe, Salim points out that his family has been in India for seven generations. He asks: “How many generations more should live here to prove that we are Indians?” He added that Muslims needed to focus more on education and people of both religions needed to love each other. That in his words, is the true definition of secularism, which has nothing to do with caps.
‘Jihadi John’ should have executed Yakub Memon. It is a pity we were deprived of the gory spectacle of an Islamic State beheading.
With hashtags like #Have a blast, #Happy Birthday Yakub, #Go Yakub, #See you in hell, weren’t we ready with our khuda hafiz for him? Were we not desperate to see Yakub hang; waiting for the exact moment when his neck snaps, spine breaks, tongue hangs out, eyes pop out and the jail jallad declares, “Lo, ho gaya, ji. Next?”
Jihadi John would have loved to satiate our collective clamour for closure. He would have filmed the execution in HD and released the video. We could have all watched it, like a happy family, at the breakfast table.
On second thoughts, Yakub could have insisted on live telecast of his own death. Maybe nobody told Yakub that his ailing mother won’t be able to make it to the ‘phansi yard’ of the Nagpur jail in time and he was wasting his last wish.
Mourners at Yakub Memon’s burial ceremony in Mumbai. PTI
Let’s thank him. Yakub’s death sentence serendipitously gave us a new IPL — Indian Phansi League; it livened up our dreary lives. The acerbic debate and name-calling around his punishment created two Indias — Team Hanging and Team Mercy. We all lined up for the contest on either side of lines dividing pent up frustration, biases, fears, misplaced notions of patriotism and justice; all the Freudian concepts imagined.
Everybody had an opinion, everyone had chosen a side, everybody wanted their side to win this battle. Had he survived, the two teams would have turned on each other. We are lucky that he didn’t.
This was, as Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes in The Indian Express, open legitimising of blood lust. “It was almost as if years of deep frustration, resentment and a sense of inadequacy about the state had morphed into an open mob mentality. Lawyers, doing their jobs defending Memon, were heckled. Many journalists displayed a lynching sensibility rather than professionally reporting the case… social media managed to create the postmodern equivalent of a medieval lynch mob, an almost cowardly but Talibanesque hounding of anyone who disagreed with the hanging.”
Everyone was a participant, a voyeur and guest at the Great Indian Hanging. At Yakub’s hanging, we consumed every detail — from his new clothes to his last supper; from the chicken leg he ate to the birthday cake he couldn’t. We successfully turned his execution into a primitive ceremony. It could have been a Rs 500-crore blockbuster if somebody had the marketing genius to turn it into a pay-per-view event.
God damn the censors for depriving us of the denouement.
We are such great suckers for death as ultimate entertainment and TV. We have a voracious appetite for tragedy tourism. When somebody is dying on the road, instead of calling for help, we either gather around the victim and silently watch the tamasha of his agony or stop by for a minute and then move on nonchalantly. When a girl is attacked by goons in the middle of a market in the national capital, we either hide like cowards or turn the incident into a TV commercial to sermonise and attack political rivals.
Death for us is just a status update. There was a time when we used to visit the home of person who had lost someone to share the sorrow. Now we just ‘like’ or retweet the announcement, pass on the information through our social network. There was a time when traffic used to stop for a funeral procession, people said a silent prayer for the departed. Now we just honk angrily and curse maniacally in a bid to race ahead of the dead to the nearest bar.
how Yakub’s brother and cousin were heckled by co-passengers on the Nagpur-Bangalore flight when they were carrying his body home? TV reporters thrust their cameras in their face and popped the
‘kaisa lag raha hai’
question. Passengers discussed Yakub’s case in loud voice, intended to rub insult into the wound of the travelling Memons. And when the body appeared, they jostled with each other to click selfies and pictures.
The man they wanted hanged would now find a place in the family album. Yakub must be really happy for this transition from a terrorist to a celebrity.
In death, Yakub did us a great favour. He exposed our enormous appetite for the macabre and the morbid; proved that we shouldn’t delude ourselves with meaningless words; that we should dump the Gandhian philosophy of the consequences of an eye for an eye and embrace Godse’s rabid communalism.
Yakub told us that India is a huge market for live hangings, public flogging and townhall lynching; that Jihadi John should be our brand ambassador, now that he is on the run from the Islamic State.
It is tragic that we didn’t get to watch the final of the Indian Phansi League live at Eden Garden. Let us pray somebody filmed it secretly on a mobile, if not in HD. A billion hits guaranteed within minutes of debut on YouTube.
Senior leader Indresh Kumar said the government acted as it should in a democracy. It made sure that Memon’s family was present in Nagpur to take the body and also allowed other people to participate in his funeral, which displayed “the values and morals of Indianness”.
The RSS on said the hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon was dealt with humanely by the government by allowing his family access which ensured peace in the aftermath.Senior leader Indresh Kumar said the government acted as it should in a democracy. It made sure that Memon’s family was present in Nagpur to take the body and also allowed other people to participate in his funeral, which displayed “the values and morals of Indianness”. “There was an atmosphere in the country that some incident will take place (because of the hanging). Judiciary did its duty…. Its duty is not to tackle the situation emerging out of it (the verdict). Who will tackle the problems that arise after the decision? It has to be tackled by the government.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”Government, while tackling the decision of the judiciary, followed the basic structure of Indianness which was that when the person is being hanged, his family is give access,” he said. Indresh said such a gesture was absent the “last time”, a reference to the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.He added that the government also ensured the Memon family’s stay in Nagpur and then gave them permission to hold the last rites and allowed people to participate. “All humane behaviour that is expected in a democracy was displayed hundred per cent by the government,” he said during a seminar held here on border management issues.Indresh said because of these gestures, “no untoward incident” was later reported from any part of the country. The senior functionary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said the entire incident displayed the true value and morals of Indianness. He also took on the media saying it was speculating if “riots” would break out in the aftermath of the hanging on July 30. Indresh said media and journalists should do their job with full “professionalism, nationalism and patriotism”.”If this is practised then it will add to the country’s strength,” he said. He said the media should undertake a self-review to check if it is serving the nation and humanity with its work. Indresh said those who forgot to pay tribute to
Yakub Memon’s hanging on July 30th has sparked a debate about the death sentence and this time the one who stands against the capital punishment is Varun Gandhi, BJP MP from Sultanpur.
File Photo: Varun Gandhi
Recently, MP and the BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha was criticised by Arun Jaitely for his signature on the mercy plea filed by Yakub Memon. Writing for Outlook, Varun has written an opinion peace titled ‘The Noose Casts A Shameful Shadow’ where he advocates the abolishment of capital punishment.In his article, he cites several historical references such as Babylon civilisation, Jesus Christ and the Crusades and the British rule, and calls the death sentence not just brutal but ‘anachronistic’. Despite the presence of investigation agencies and a proper legal proceeding, Varun Gandhi doesn’t believe that judgements can be accurate. He mentions a study by Columbia University of 5,760 cases (between 1973-1995) that reveals an error rate of 70 per cent in capital punishment verdicts. <!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Varun goes on to say that 75 per cent of the convicts on death row belong to socially and economically-marginalised classes; 94 per cent of death row convicts are Dalits or from the minorities. “The poor consistently get the short end of the legal stick. The death penalty is a consequence of poor legal representation and institutional bias”, he writes.A couple of days ago, Shashi Tharoor of the Congress Party had posted a series of tweets that debated against the capital punishment. In his article Varun seems to carry the same pitch, “A death penalty at the end of a long and tedious process is no deterrent.”He believes that long prison terms (with no parole till a minimum stretch is served) can deter crime better and quicker trials can add to effectiveness. In his article he presented facts and figures from across the world, and quoted Buddhism philosophy, Italian jurist Cesare Beccaria and George Bernard Shaw among many to make a point that the capital punishment is not much of justice than retribution.Varun Gandhi’s article appeals to the government to abolish capital punishment and look for better alternatives. Varun concludes by writing, “India, as one of the 58-odd countries where death penalty is retained, needs to recognise the changing global scenario. The death penalty is not just a remedy available at the disposal of the law, but a human rights issue, beyond the pale of law. For the largest democracy, the death penalty is an anomaly. It needs correction. Many that live do deserve death. And some that die deserve life. One must not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”A little over 22 years after 12 coordinated blasts rocked Mumbai, killing 257 people and injuring over 700, the lone convict on death row in the case – Yakub Memon, was on Thursday executed about two hours after his lawyer’s last-gasp plea to get the death warrant. The plea was signed by many veteran lawyers, politicians and other known personalities.A day earler, Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Digvijaya Singh had sparked controversy by their remarks against capital punishment. In a series of tweets Tharoor had said that he was saddenned by the hanging of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub. He said, “The state-sponsored killing diminishes us all by reducing us to murderers too.” Tharoor also added, “There is no evidence that death penalty serves as a deterrent: to the contrary in fact. All it does is exact retribution: unworthy of a government.”Whereas, Digvijaya Singh sparked controversy tweeting, “exemplary urgency and commitment has been shown by govt and judiciary in punishing an accused of terror. I hope similar commitment of govt and judiciary would be shown in all cases of terror irrespective of their caste, creed and religion.”
Lashing out at political leaders who made a last-ditch attempt to save Memon from gallows by approaching the President, the Lok Sabha member from Unnao said they would not have done so if they had lost their own kin in the blasts.
Sakshi Maharaj
BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj on Saturday dubbed as “anti-national” those mourning the death of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon and said that people who have no faith in the Constitution should go to Pakistan.Lashing out at political leaders who made a last-ditch attempt to save Memon from gallows by approaching the President, the Lok Sabha member from Unnao said they would not have done so if they had lost their own kin in the blasts.”After all who were they trying to save? They would not have done this if they had lost their own relatives in the blasts,” Sakshi who is often in the news for his communally provocative statements said. “Sedition charges should be slapped against people sympathising with Yakub Memon and those who have no faith in the Indian Constitution should go to Pakistan,” the BJP MP said.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>
Hours after Yakub’s burial Maharashtra Vice President of the Party wrote a letter to party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
PTI
Hours after Yakub Memon’s last rites were performed, politics surrounding him took a new turn with a senior Samajwadi Party leader seeking a parliament seat for Yakub’s wife, Raheen. Memon was convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blast case and was executed on Thursday.Mohammed Farooq Ghosi, the Vice President of SP’s Maharashtra unit wrote a letter to party’s national chief Mulayam Singh Yadav putting forth his request that Raheen must be given a parliament seat as she has suffered a lot.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>However, soon after that the party removed him from his post following a backlash on social media and also from various other party leades. In the letter, a copy of which is available with the dna, SP leader said, “Raheen Yakub Memon was also arrested in the Mumbai blast case but the court released her later as charges against her couldn’t be proved. But she was in jail for years and might have suffered a lot. You have always supported needy and helpless. I feel that Raheen is also helpless. Likewise, many Muslims in the country are today feeling helpless. We must support Raheen, making her an MP so that she can raise her voice for all such helpless people,” While Ghosi didn’t respond to calls, senior party leaders did not have an explanation when this correspondent sought their response on Ghosi’s letter.Abu Azmi, state SP chief, sought to wash his hands off the matter. “Party disowns Ghosi’s demand. We had no idea about such demand as Ghosi has not even consulted us before approaching Mulayam Singh Yadav. I spoke to him over the phone and he admitted that he wrote the letter in personal capacity. Nevertheless, the suggestion of making Yakub’s wife an MP is wrong as she is not a political person,” said Azmi.Azmi also claimed that the party would initiate action against Ghosi but did not elaborate further. Over 22 years after the 1993 Mumbai blasts, Yakub Memon, the sole convict on death row, was hanged on his 53rd birthday on Thursday after failure of last-gasp efforts by his counsels to stall the execution that led the Supreme Court to hear his plea in the wee hours before throwing it out.Memon, whom the Supreme Court had described as the “driving spirit” behind the worst terror assault till date that left 257 dead and 713 wounded, was hanged at the Nagpur Central Jail shortly before 7 am, just about two hours after his last-ditch attempt to gain reprieve came to naught.Also read: The grim reality- Politics behind Yakub Memon’s hanging
Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has written to party chief Sonia Gandhi saying that some media reports are seeking to portray him as an isolated figure in the party, reported Indian Express.
Shashi Tharoor
Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has written to party chief Sonia Gandhi alleging that some were trying to embarrass him by leaking information to the press and in a way discouraging him from giving honest opinion in future meetings.In the letter he said that such ‘maliciously aimed’ ‘press leaks’ were trying to portray him as an isolated figure in the party.Making an attempt to clear misunderstanding, in the letter Tharoor denied that he has spoken to the media and called such reports ‘press leaks’ aiming to malign him. Tharoor wrote to Sonia Gandhi after reports surfaced that she blasted him over his view against Congress’ decision to disrupt ongoing proceeding of the house.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>However, Tharoor has officially refused to comment about his letter to Sonia Gandhi. “I will neither confirm nor deny because even responding to such a question legitimises your line of inquiry,” Tharoor told IE.In the letter, Kerala MP mentioned that he has been speaking to the media only on record since his personal tragedy.The erudite Congress MP also expressed regret that he has served the interest of the party with sincerity but often feels it has not been appreciated. Tharoor said that those who resorted to leaking party information must be very happy because not only it managed to discredit him but also used Sonia Gandhi’s name for that purpose. According to the Congress MP, such selective leaks aim to project divergent views given on democratic platforms as dissidence. A day ago, Tharoor had also faced the ire on social media after he tweeted about being saddened by Yakub’s hanging. The party had termed the comment as his personal views.Tharoor had also said, “There is no evidence that death penalty serves as a deterrent: to the contrary in fact. All it does is exact retribution: unworthy of a government.”
Srinagar: Former militant-turned Congress MLA Usman Majeed on Friday stoked a controversy by claiming he had met Tiger Memon after the 1993 Mumbai blasts in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir during which he seemed “worried” about his brother Yakub’s surrender fearing the ISI might kill him.
Majeed’s claim comes a day after Yakub was hanged in Nagpur Central Jail.
“I met Tiger in 1993. I met him 2-3 times. He used to come to our office in Muzaffarabad (capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). I was not friends with Tiger. Hilal Beg, the founder of the Students Liberation Front and chief of Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen militant outfit introduced me to him,”the MLA from north Kashmir’sBandipora claimed.
Yakub and Tiger Memon
He said Tiger had already carried out the bomb blasts in Mumbai when they met.
“He was most wanted that time in our country. He had carried out the blasts. I asked him how and why he had done itand what was the reason behind the blasts,” Majeed said.
“He replied that the main reason was the demolition of the BabriMasjid and the riots that followed it. He said people, including women, had come to him and told him that they were being killed and he had got emotional. That’s is why hecarried out the blasts,” Majeed claimed.
He said Tiger had told him that ISI had plannedand helped in carrying out the blasts.
“ISI helped Tiger in carrying out the blasts. Itwasn’t Tiger himself who did it. According to Tiger,everything was done by Pakistan the plan and the weaponrywas provided by them (Pakistan) and the plan was executed byhis (Tiger’s) gang on the directions of ISI,” he claimed.
The legislator also claimed that Tiger was worried after hisbrother Yakub had “surrendered” and feared that the ISI might kill him.
“Yakub was mentioned to me when Tiger said he had surrendered. We had heard from the media that some Yakub, who was Tiger’s brother, had surrendered. Tiger said Yakub had surrendered, but our people here said he was apprehended.
“ButTiger was worried about the surrender. He thought ISI wouldlose his trust. Pakistan also had the worry that he mightsurrender. Tiger said there was less respect for him in Pakistan than earlier and that ISI was looking at him with doubtful eyes.”
“When Yakub surrendered, Tiger left Pakistan becausehe feared that the ISI will kill him. He felt humiliated and disgusted and fled to Dubai. But after negotiations, they (ISI) brought him back because they did not want him to surrender.
“They feared Yakub might provide the platform and hewill facilitate Tiger’s surrender too,” Majeed claimed.
According to him, ISI would never allow Tiger to surrender.
Majeed crossed into Pakistan from Bangladesh. After staying there for two years, he returned and surrendered to Indian authorities and was part of a counter-insurgent group headed by Kukka Parray. He later contested the assembly elections and winning as anIndependent candidate in 2002 from the Bandipora consitutency.
He became a minister of state in the then MuftiMohammad Sayeed led PDP-Congress government. In 2008 assembly polls, he was defeated by the PDP candidate but he wrested the seat in 2014 when he contested on a Congress ticket.
“Injustices have been meted out to us all along. But we continue to demand the mortal remains of Afzal Sahab. We shall continue raise this issue till our last breath,” Tabassum Guru, wife of Afzal Guru, told dna.
Yakub Memon’s funeral has reignited the demand for the return of the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru to his family members in the Kashmir valley.Guru was hanged and buried in the Tihar jail on February 9, 2013 after his mercy petition was rejected by the President Pranab Mukherjee. Since then the demands for the return of his mortal remains have been a rallying issue for the separatists and mainstream parties who play soft-separatist cards.”Injustices have been meted out to us all along. But we continue to demand the mortal remains of Afzal Sahab. We shall continue raise this issue till our last breath,” Tabassum Guru, wife of Afzal Guru, told dna.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Main opposition National Conference (NC), which had to pay a heavy price for the hanging of Afzal Guru by losing both Parliament and assembly elections, has jumped onto the bandwagon demanding the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict.”How can you justify not handing over the body of Afzal Guru to his family when you handed over the body of Yakub Memon to his family? The system of justice cannot have different interpretations for different people. What justice is it to deprive a young child of the dead body of his father?” asked Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi NC Chief spokesperson.Aga said his party would continue to raise the demand of the return of Guru’s mortal remains and would exhaust all possible options to pursue this cause of justice.”NC working president Omar Abdullah had written to the then Prime Minister demanding the return of the mortal remains of Afzal Guru. National Conference has repeatedly raised this demand even on the floor of the Legislative Assembly,” he said.Architect of `Save Afzal Guru Resolution’ and president of Awami Itihaad Party (AIP) Sheikh Abdul Rashid aka Engineer Rashid said the decision to deprive the mortal remains of Guru to his family has proved that New Delhi treats Kashmir as dispute.”Centre does not treat Kashmir as an internal part. They treat Kashmiris as second-class citizens. Kashmiris are being deprived of all their rights which other citizens enjoy. That is why they did not give body of Guru to his family. But Yakub Memon’s family was given the body for last rites,” he said.Engineer Rashid’s resolution seeking mortal remains of Guru was dropped by the Legislative Assembly after it was selected in the draw of lots.Engineer Rashid’s earlier resolution seeking amnesty to the parliament attack convict in 2011 was put off by the then speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone who adjourned the House without tabling it for discussions following the ruckus created by the Congress and the BJP members.
Even as the execution of the terrorist convicted for the Mumbai blasts of 1993, Yakub Memon, became imminent, the spigots of saccharine morality were fully opened. Several sound bites, opinion columns and editorials appeared in the Indian media condemning the institution of the death penalty. Some questioned the judicial process and a few even raised doubts about law enforcement procedures in the country. The latter two categories are of less concern and have simpler solutions via reformation, clarity, transparency and checks and balances. The practice of state-sanctioned executions, however, needs the occasional support.
In India, the death penalty is reserved for “the rarest of rare” cases. A crime of passion, or even a simple, pre-meditated murder, does not qualify for the death penalty under Indian law. This establishes a high standard which the accused may breach only by excessive brutality in their crimes, multiple counts of infraction, or the sheer magnitude of the deed. In essence, Indian law is talking about sadists, serial killers, and terrorists.
Yakub Memon. Image courtesy: IBNLive
The result of this stringent policy is that the overwhelming majority of cases in which there may be some doubt about guilt despite the trial and appeals process are filtered out. To take just the most recent examples, regardless of anyone’s view of the death penalty, no one seriously doubts the guilt of either Yakub Memon or Ajmal Kasab. The limited scope of the death penalty, therefore, makes it disingenuous to compare the murder rate to the number of executions to argue that there is no correlation.
On the flip side, those who argue for the deterrent effects of the death penalty are also equally wrong – most people who are considered for the death penalty are involved in such heinous activities that the clean and swift death offered by the state might actually be considered a reprieve.
There is also some concern that the judicial system may be biased against some of those who appear before it. Judges are, after all, part of society and are not immune to social, religious, economic or other biases. Yet these fears are non-falsifiable – it is virtually impossible to prove that someone is perfectly objective when considering the death sentence, particularly given the small sample space of death penalty convicts.
A rigorous selection procedure for judges, a transparent and speedy trial and appeals process for the accused, strict evidentiary standards for law enforcement, and well-defined laws can reduce the bias and arbitrariness of the judicial system as much as is humanly possible. The several levels of the judicial system which allows for repeated appeals give the accused multiple opportunities to address issues of faulty counsel or judicial impropriety. Ultimately, all systems – including air traffic control and pharmaceuticals – are human and to demand perfection in the face of a policy that one is disinclined towards demonstrates only churlishness.
Opposition to the death penalty is founded on the belief that retribution is unworthy; it should be abolished because we are a civilised society. These assertions – they are not arguments – appeal to what Aristotle called the
pathos
, or emotions, of the public. Mercy, forgiveness, civilisation…such words encompass lovely ideals that appeal to our vanity as much as our hopes when it costs us nothing. Yet there is nothing qualitatively superior to such assertions compared to saying that as a civilised society, we cannot tolerate those who commit exceptionally brutal or gruesome acts. Retribution is very much a part of human nature and laws that suppress such strong evolutionary inclinations just beg to be violated. Even a brief survey of world literature and history would powerfully underscore the part revenge plays in human affairs. Recent mob attacks on some rape-accused in India, even in jail, reiterate this lesson even further.
Yet if not the death penalty, then what? It is a difficult case to make that incarceration for life in a 6 x 8 prison cell is dignified or civilised. Pardon is unthinkable but even affording sadists, serial killers, and terrorists a life with access to television, newspapers, books, and the opportunity to obtain educational degrees offends the imagination. The fondness for rehabilitation of convicts is mostly a 19th century affair, born partly from the ill-conceived optimism of the Enlightenment in the power of rationality. However, rehabilitation focuses entirely on the convict and readmitting him to the realm of humanity; it does not address the issue of punishment or providing a sense of justice or closure for the victims. Such uneven treatment, surely, cannot be virtuous!
The call to abolish the death penalty is lost in abstractions. It unwisely takes an absolute position that there is no case in which the death penalty is deserved while offering an alternative that is more flawed than idealistic. In the absence of real options, there can be no serious debate on the issue. Returning to the Yakub Memon case, the real travesty is that it took the Indian judicial system over two decades to resolve the matter. Where is the outcry over that?
Predictably, cyber furore ensued after the controversial tweet, which prompted Roy to say that he was only concerned about the public.
Photo courtesy: Twitter
A day after Yakub Memon was hanged to death at Nagpur Central Jail for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, Tripura Governor Tathagata Ray sparked off a major controversy by terming people who assembled at his last rites as ‘potential terrorists’.“Intelligence should keep a tab on all (except relatives & close friends) who assembled before Yakub Memon’s corpse. Many are potential terrorists,” he wrote on Twitter.Predictably, cyber furore ensued after the controversial tweet, which prompted Roy to say that he was only concerned about the public. “Governors ought to be concerned about security of state. Intelligence keeping tab on Yakub’s mourners is preventing terror. Better than cure,” he wrote, adding, “It is my constitutional duty to bring matters of public interest to public notice. My position as Governor is not thereby compromised.”Later, talking to a TV news channel, Roy said that he had excluded Memon’s relatives and friends in his tweet. “Why did others come to see a man who was hanged. They must have sympathy for him,” he said.The Governor’s tweets drew a lot of flak among political circles as well. Congress spokesperson in Bengal, Omprakash Mishra said that Roy should step down from his post. “We condemn such statements. A person who holds a constitutional post should refrain from making such statements,” Mishra said.Senior leader of the Trinamool Congress, Subrata Mukherjee said that the party is going to take up the matter with the President and will write to him demanding Roy’s resignation. “His statements are unconstitutional and would lead to communal tension. Our party is going to write to the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee demanding his resignation,” said Mukherjee.Criticising Roy, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said he occupies a constitutional post and his comments were not in line with the Constitution. “He should not have resorted to Twitter if he wants to give any advise to the government. He could have told the chief minister (of the state) or he could have sent a message to him,” Chatterjee said.With Agency Inputs
When he was finally hanged in the Nagpur central jail, after over 20 years of being imprisoned, Yakub Memon was reportedly calm as he was escorted to the gallows, reciting a verse from the Quran right until the hood was placed over his head.
Despite reports claiming that the lone convict sentenced to death for his involvement in the Mumbai 1993 serial blasts had hallucinations and was filled with rage before the execution, a Times of India report quoted a Nagpur jail official as saying that Yakub was calm to the very end.
A Times of India report said that Yakub had written a final mercy petition to be given to the president on the night before his hanging but it wasn’t delivered. He read the Quran late into Wednesday night. When he woke on the morning of his execution at 5 am, the first question he reportedly asked was about his mercy petition.
The Nagpur central jail where the hanging was carried out. PTI image
There was no birthday cake for Yakub or last minute call to his 21-year-old daughter. He was taken for one last medical check up before being taken to the gallows, reported the Telegraph.
An official told the newspaper that the body was kept hanging for a half hour in keeping with procedure and was then shifted to the prison hospital for a post-mortem. “The body was later embalmed, placed in a coffin and flown to Mumbai,” the official said.
However, what should have been a solemn ride back to his city for Yakub’s brother Suleiman and cousin Usman, who accompanied the body on an Indigo flight, turned out to be a nightmaare. One of them first barely made the flight and then they had to endure intrusive and often hostile passengers during the journey.
According to a Mumbai Mirror report, passengers tried to click their photos, spoke about the Yakub’s case loudly and Suleiman had to tell some television news crews to return to their seats after they attempted to get a quote out of them.
When the body was taken off the aircraft at Mumbai airport, someone shouted ‘body’ and people began to take pictures of Yakub’s body being taken out, upsetting Suleiman and Usman. It also forced the airline crew to tell passengers to deplane immediately so that procedure could be followed.
An Indian Express report said that many of the passengers on board the flight were journalists who stood around on the runway even as the body was taken out of the aircraft. The police had to tell the journalists to move and then took the body out of the aircraft and into a hearse, which then left from a gate different from the one normally used to exit the Mumbai airport.
The body was then taken to Yakub’s mother’s house in Mahim in central Mumbai where, according to one Times of India report, close to 10,000 people gathered for the final prayers, a request from the family which the city police had acceded to. However, the police had reportedly denied the family permission to display Yakub’s face. Mumbai Police commissioner Rakesh Maria was also present at the site to ensure things went off smoothly.
After prayers in Mahim, the body was taken to the graveyard in Marine Lines where Yakub was to be laid to rest alongside his father Abdul Razzak. The number of people present at the graveyard to offer prayers was pegged at anywhere between 8,000 to 15,000 as people from the city’s suburbs and even from neighbouring Thane turned up for the last rites. The police was also present in large numbers with an Indian Express report pegging the number of cops at over 7,500.
While the crowd was peaceful through out, there were announcements made on a public address system throughout asking people not to shout slogans, to pay their respects to the deceased person and to pray for the family, the Times of India reported.
Once the body was brought in, a crowd of people gathered around the body hoping for a glimpse of Yakub’s face but had no such luck. The Indian Express, in a report, described the final rites:
Shrouded in a green chaddar with flower patterns sewn on it, the body was brought to the grave by the crowd, people taking turns to shoulder the janaaza.
After the final rites, volunteers ushered people out, and a variety of people stopped by to speak with the Mumbai police commissioner: some to introduce themselves, others to speak about the 1993 blasts, and one to give him a couple of roses. The Memons meanwhile accepted condolences in the graveyard, with Suleiman telling the Indian Express that whatever happened was god’s will and all they could do was “pray for salvation”.
India will have to brace itself for the strategic fallout of the Yakub Memon case, which the Narendra Modi government must have taken into account.
Yakub Memon’s hanging could give anti-India elements in Pakistan another excuse for India-bashing. PTI
One relates to Pakistan and Pakistan-fomented terrorism. It is inevitable that jihadist non-state actors as well as anti-India elements within Pakistani state will make this case their newest template for their anti-India propaganda. The likes of Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin will shoot off their mouths at public congregations and pour vitriol on India. Expect the likes of Hafiz Saeed to address a large crowd in a mosque tomorrow with the execution of Yakub Memon as the central theme of his speech.
Needless to say that Yakub’s execution will bring about a wave of revenge attacks by Pakistan-aided terrorists, something which the Indian government is already aware of. The home ministry has already sounded alerts. Mumbai, Nagpur, Delhi and Bangalore, among the places and individuals associated with the case, including judges, will inevitably be high on terrorists’ radars.
The Centre has already ordered further tightening of security of three judges of the Supreme Court – Justices Dipak Misra, Amitav Roy and Prafulla Pant – who heard and finally rejected Yakub Memon’s petition in the wee hours on Thursday.
Spike in terrorist activities and public India-baiting by most wanted terrorists will eventually rock the boat of India-Pakistan bilateral relations. Next couple of weeks will be crucial in this context as National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan are to meet in New Delhi towards the end of next month.
Second strategic fallout of Yakub Memon’s hanging is going to be a long term one. The Indian intelligence agencies may now find themselves hamstrung in collecting evidence abroad and bringing a fugitive back to the country to cast a wider net on other wanted fugitives.
As it is, persuading fugitives to return home to face a certain imprisonment and a possible death sentence (in cases of war against the state, which was the case in context of Yakub Memon) was an uphill task. Indian intelligence agencies cannot boast of many such accomplishments on individual basis. But now after the Yakub Memon case, even such rare windfalls will become a thing of the past. Added to this is a question mark on the credibility of the Indian intelligence agencies while sealing covert deals with fugitives.
The Yakub Memon case has brought to fore a wide array of legal and constitutional debates, frailties and anomalies of law, lessons learnt and the need for streamlining of procedures with respect to death row convicts as well as the state.
The greatest debate, and a perennial one, of course pertains to whether death penalty should be kept alive for “rarest of rare” cases as is the case in India presently or whether it should be scrapped altogether for the simple reason that the state cannot take away human life since the state cannot give it.
However, there is an important positive aspect of the Yakub Memon case – the laudable restraint shown by the Indian media, particularly the electronic media.
Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Sanjay Barkund had issued a 13-hour-long gag order to the media from 11 am till midnight of Thursday, barring it from photographing and video-graphing the funeral procession and last rites of Yakub Memon. But even if no such order was passed, Indian TV channels had decided on their own to stay away from these events.
Sample this Ënglish translation of a suo motu statement from TV9 in Marathi: “We are not going to broadcast the last rites of Yakub Memon. We are not going to broadcast anything that makes a hero out of the anti-national Yakub Memon. This decision has been taken so that there will be no glorification of Yakub Memon.”
The Indian electronic media had displayed similar restraint during the Gurdaspur fidayeen attack also, though some TRP-crazy channels did try to jump the gun.
The Yakub Memon case and the Gurdaspur terror incident may or may not be linked but one thing appears to be certain. His execution will result in a spike in infiltration attempts from across the borders. It is up to India to emulate the United States and put such mechanisms in place that unwanted elements cannot get into the Indian territory just as America has successfully prevented a repeat of a 9/11.
Mumbai: The death warrant of 1993 serial blasts convict Yakub Memon was executed after completing necessary judicial procedures and he had exhausted all available legal and constitutional remedies, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Assembly on Thursday.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. PTI
Making a statement in the House on the hanging of Yakub, Fadnavis said the execution was done after completing all judicial procedures and the convict had exhausted all legal and constitutional remedies.
The 53-year-old blasts conspirator was hanged in Nagpur Central Jail at 7 am, the Chief Minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, informed the Lower House.
Fadnavis said the government took utmost care to ensure there was no tension in the state, especially Mumbai, the hometown of Memons following the execution.
Adequate security arrangements were made in Mumbai, Nagpur and other parts of the state to maintain law and order and social media platforms were also kept under watch, he said.
“Close watch was kept on developments on Internet and social media. The state was peaceful. I appeal to all to maintain peace and tranquillity in the state,” Fadnavis said.
He said Yakub’s family was informed about the death warrant issued by Special TADA Court 14 days ago and his body handed over to the family after completing all legal formalities.
The body of Yakub, brought to Mumbai from Nagpur earlier in the day, was buried at Bada Kabristan graveyard in Chandanwadi, Fadnavis said.
Yakub, a chartered accountant by profession, was sentenced to death for his role in the serial bombings on 12 March, 1993 which left 257 dead and 713 injured.
He was found guilty of conspiracy (under IPC Section 120-B) and financing terror operations by arranging for tickets of accused who were sent to Pakistan from Mumbai via Dubai for arms training.
The former DGP suggested that special courts should be set up for expeditious disposal of terrorism-related cases as in many other countries.
File Photo
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There is an urgent need to have “very strict laws” to deal with terrorism, former Punjab police chief K P S Gill said on Thursday even as he rejected criticism over Army not being given the charge of the operation against terrorists in Gurdaspur.Gill, who is credited with rooting out militancy in Punjab, said that India has been facing terrorism for long, but this level, at which the menace confronts the nation and the world, was not imagined.”We need to have overall very strict laws to deal with terrorism which should embrace all aspects,” Gill, 81, said at a ‘meet-the-press’ programme. He said that TADA and other laws with stricter anti-terrorism provisions were enacted when Punjab had already crossed the dark days of militancy.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>The former DGP suggested that special courts should be set up for expeditious disposal of terrorism-related cases as in many other countries.”In our country, unfortunately, something which happened 20 years ago continues to drag on and becomes a matter of debate,” Gill said in an apparent reference to the hanging of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon. Gill hailed the Punjab police for the way they responded to the Gurdaspur terror attack, in which three terrorists were gunned down in a day-long operation.Dismissing criticism over Army not being given the charge of the operation against terrorists in Gurdaspur, he said, “Punjab police officers killed three terrorists but the political leadership is finding faults with the operation and making it a political issue.””When the Punjab Police takes charge of an operation, it does not think which political leadership is leading it… it is a part of Punjab Police’s training and the country is supreme (for them). This was shown in an exemplary manner,” he said.”Army’s actual role is to fight an enemy force,” he said, adding that the Punjab Police was “quite capable” of handling the operation.
Addressing a press conference, Bhushan told reporters that the execution was kind of a “retributive violence” by the State, and it promotes “lynch mob mentality”.
Prashant Bhushan
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Senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Thursday questioned the “unseemly hurry” behind the execution of Yakub Memon saying no time was given to the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict to challenge the rejection of his mercy petition. Bhushan, who was one of the lawyers behind the last ditch attempt to stall Memon’s execution last night, said the apex court should have commuted his sentence factoring in several issues, including his “cooperation” with investigating agencies. “He cooperated fully with the investigative agencies. He was suffering from schizophrenia and he had been in solitary confinement for a very very long time. Under these circumstances, his sentence should have been commuted,” he said.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Addressing a press conference, Bhushan told reporters that the execution was kind of a “retributive violence” by the State, and it promotes “lynch mob mentality”. “Yesterday the issue was of giving 14 days time, as per a Supreme court judgement, so that he can challenge the dismissal of his mercy petition in court and that he can settle his worldly affairs. But it (mercy petition) was dismissed late last night. No time was given to him. What was this unseemly hurry? What was the need for us to be so bloodthirsty?” he asked.Late last night, Bhushan assisted Memon’s lawyers, who changed strategy and rushed to the residence Chief Justice of India HL Dattu and petitioned him for an urgent hearing to stay the hanging. “His lawyers Anand Grover, Yog Chaudhry had contacted me so I readily went there because I felt the sentence should have been commuted,” he said.Bhushan said the case against Memon was mounted entirely on the basis of “confessional statements” made to the police by his co-accused, which he said was not admissible under normal law. “But since this was a case under TADA, it was made admissible and that is the basis of finding of his guilt. Even assuming that he was guilty, the fact appears to be that he came back to India and brought his family voluntarily,” he said.
Yakub Memon, the lone 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict, was on Thursday executed by the same prison constable from Yerwada jail who carried out the hanging of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, one of the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, three years ago.
File Photo
Yakub Memon, the lone 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict, was on Thursday executed by the same prison constable from Yerwada jail who carried out the hanging of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, one of the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, three years ago.The hangman, whose identity has been kept under wraps due to security reasons, had arrived at the Central Prison here a week ago as part of a 20-member team of prison personnel from Yerwada Jail in Pune. He had pulled the lever to hang Kasab on November 21, 2012 at Yerwada.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>Jail Superintendent of Yerwada, Yogesh Desai, who led the team during Kasab’s hanging in Pune, was transferred to the Nagpur Central Prison a few months back, apparently to oversee Yakub’s hanging. According to jail officials, the constable executed the hanging with “clinical precision”. Also, another constable from Yerwada was brought here a week ago and trained with two others to assist the hangman.The other members of the team were entrusted with the task of preparing the drop and the platform in the execution yard (Fansi Yard). Nagpur and Yerwada are the two Central Prisons in Maharashtra equipped with the hanging facility.The previous execution at Nagpur jail was carried out in 1984, when two brothers from Amravati had been hanged for murder.
New Delhi: A political war of words erupted on Thursday over the execution of 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon, with a section of opposition leaders speaking against the death sentence.
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh fired the first salvo, saying that the BJP- led government should show “similar commitment” in all cases of terror as it showed in the case of Yakub Memon.
“I hope similar commitment of the government and the judiciary would be shown in all cases of terror, irrespective of their caste, creed and religion,” he said in a tweet following Memon’s execution in the Nagpur central jail on Thursday morning.
Yakub Memon. IBNLive
Party colleague and former union minister Shashi Tharoor said he was “saddened” by Memon’s execution.
“Saddened by news that our government has hanged a human being. State-sponsored killing diminishes us all by reducing us to murderers too,” Tharoor tweeted.
“There is no evidence that death penalty serves as a deterrent, to the contrary in fact. All it does is exact retribution, unworthy of a government,” the Thiruvananthapuram parliamentarian said.
“I’m not commenting on the merits of a specific case; that’s for the Supreme Court to decide. Problem is death penalty in principle and practice,” he added.
Communist Party of India (CPI) parliamentarian D. Raja, meanwhile, said that the death penalty should be done away with in the country.
“India should say an emphatic no to capital punishment…. It does not mean we do not have sympathy with those (blast victims’) families, but by snatching away one life will not bring back all those lives,” Raja said.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader and Hyderabad parliamentarian FOR Asaduddin Owaisi said the government should ensure death sentence in all similar cases.
“Death sentence should also be given to Babu Bajrangi, Maya Kodnani, Col. Purohit and Swami Aseemanand,” he said.
While Babu Bajrangi and Maya Kodnani are accused in the Gujarat riots, Col. Purohit and Swami Aseemanand are accused in the Malegaon blast.
The ruling BJP slammed the leaders opposed to the hanging, Tharoor and Digvijaya Singh were forsaken by the Congress as well, which said it was their “personal views”.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the views were that of the leaders concerned and not of the Congress.
Former home secretary and BJP parliamentarian R.K. Singh said those making such comments did not have national interests on their minds.
“These people don’t think about national interest. Whether he (Yakub) had to be hanged or not was not to be decided by the government but the court, and the president uses his judgement after that…,” he said.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said justice had been done.
“Justice has been done; this increased the people’s faith in the judicial process. He got two decades to prove his innocence, and he was proven guilty,” he said.
Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, convicted in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was hanged till death at Maharashtra’s Nagpur central jail on Thursday morning.
New Delhi: Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Thursday voiced hope that “exemplary urgency and commitment” shown by the “government and judiciary” in Yakub Memon case will also be displayed in all cases of terror, irrespective of the religion of the accused.
Digvijaya Singh. PTI
“Yakub Memon hanged. Exemplary urgency and commitment has been shown by Govt and Judiciary in punishing an accused of Terror”.
“I hope similar commitment of Govt and Judiciary would be shown in all cases of Terror irrespective of their Caste Creed and Religion (sic),” Singh said in a series of tweets noting that he has doubts in this regard.
Singh said, “I have my doubts the way the cases of other Terror accused are being conducted. Let’s see. Credibility of the Govt and Judiciary is at stake.”
“What a coincidence ! Funerals of Two Indian Muslims on the same day. Dr Kalam who has made every Indian proud of his achievements for India,” tweeted the Congress leader. “And Yakub Menon who has by being associated with those involved in terror brought shame to the whole community.”
“A lesson for all Indians to keep away from Religious Fundamentalism which leads to Violence and Terrorism. Be Liberal Secular and Modern,” he tweeted.
The Congress leader said, “Let us be Indians First. Shun hatred and violence. Be Gandhian. Adopt and practice the Ideology of Love Compassion and Non Violence.”
In another tweet, he alleged that activist Teesta Setalvad, who is accused of embezzling funds from her NGA meant for 2002 Gujarat riots victim, was being targeted for fighting against the communal forces.
“Teesta Setalvad is being targeted by Modi Sarkar for fighting against communal forces.”
“All right thinking secular people must support Teesta. A relentless Fighter for a Cause,” he added.
Death sentence is a far cry, they will be acquitted. If the scale of justice remains the same, then we will keep raising our voice,?
said the AIMIM chief.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said they would want to see Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi being hanged to death for their role in the 2002 Godhra riots, as they too were as deserving of this punishment as 1993 Mumbai terror attacks convict Yakub Memon, who was sent to the gallows this morning.Sikhs were slaughtered in Delhi, eight inquiry commissions were set up, how many people were given death sentence, Owaisi said.<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>He further said that the people who destroyed the Babri Masjid are roaming around free, and questioned if they should not be getting the death sentence too.Death sentence is a far cry, they will be acquitted. If the scale of justice remains the same, then we will keep raising our voice, said the AIMIM chief.Yakub Memon was hanged at the Nagpur Central jail today morning after his second mercy plea before President Pranab Mukherjee was rejected late last night.In an unprecedented move, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court presided over a fresh hearing of the case throughout the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday before dismissing the final appeal for mercy by Yakub, the only person to be sentenced to death for the series of bombings in Mumbai.Memon was convicted for being the “driving spirit” behind the blasts that killed at least 257 people at separate landmarks in the financial capital, including the Bombay Stock Exchange and two crowded markets.
A three-judge newly constituted bench of the Supreme Court, who were to take a decision on 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon’s curative petition, have dismissed the plea, reports on Wednesday said.
Earlier in the day, the bench was hearing afresh the plea of Memon after two judges gave a split order. Senior advocate Raju Ramachndran, appearing for Memon, initiated arguments by referring to the separate, divergent orders passed by Justice A R Dave and Justice Kurian Joseph on Tuesday and said that the procedures established by the law have not been followed while deciding the curative petition of the convict.
Image courtesy: IBNLive
Ramachandran said, “The judges, who were part of judicial process earlier, must be party to curative petition. It cannot be decided by judges who are strangers to the matters.”
He further said that besides the three senior most judges, the curative petition should have been circulated to the judges, if available, who had decided the criminal appeal and the review petition.
Senior advocates T R Andhyarujina and Anand Grover both supported the contention of Ramachandran and said that this death warrant is illegal and can not be executed tomorrow.
Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, who is presently continuing his argument, said that the court should not forget the fact that it was the first terror attack at the heart of the country that had led to the death of 257 persons and several hundred injured.
Rohatgi on Tuesday had told the two judge bench that all judicial remedies available to Memon got exhausted with the dismissal of the curative petition on 21 July.
A three-judge bench headed by CJI had on 21 July rejected Memon’s plea, contending that the grounds raised by him for relief did not fall within principles laid down by the apex court in 2002 in deciding curative petitions.
Memon, in his plea, had claimed he was suffering from schizophrenia since 1996 and has remained behind bars for nearly 20 years, much more than a person serving life term has to spend in jail.
He had sought commutation of death penalty, contending that a convict cannot be awarded life term and the death sentence for the same offence.
The apex court had on June 2, 2014 stayed the execution of Memon and referred his plea to a Constitution Bench as to whether review petitions in death penalty cases be heard in an open court or in chambers.
The apex court had on 9 April this year dismissed Memon’s petition seeking review of his death sentence which was upheld on 21 March, 2013. Memon’s review petition was heard by a three-judge bench in an open court in pursuance of the Constitution Bench verdict that the practice of deciding review pleas in chambers be done away with, in cases where death penalty has been awarded.
12 coordinated blasts had rocked Bombay, as the city was then known, on 12 March, 1993, leaving 257 dead and over 700 injured.
Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief Minister Digvijaya Singh has landed himself in hot waters once again.
Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief Minister Digvijaya Singh has landed himself in hot waters once again.In a series of tweets about the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, Digvijay Singh said, “Yakub Memon hanged. Exemplary urgency and commitment has been shown by Govt and Judiciary in punishing an accused of Terror.”In the following tweet he said, “I hope similar commitment of Govt and Judiciary would be shown in all cases of Terror irrespective of their Caste Creed and Religion.”<!– Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>In another tweet, Digvijaya Singh compared late APJ Abdul Kalam’s funeral to the hanging of Yakub Menon. He tweeted, “What a coincidence ! Funerals of Two Indian Muslims on the same day. Dr Kalam who has made every Indian proud of his achievements for India And Yakub Menon who has by being associated with those involved in terror brought shame to the whole Community.”Related read: Shashi Tharoor saddened by Yakub’s hanging, says execution has never prevented terror attackThese tweets have created a furore on social media where several bashed Digvijaya’s tweets.
