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You are here: Home / Archives for Yakub Memon

Yakub Memon seeks stay of execution of his death sentence

July 23, 2015 by Nasheman

Yakub-Memon

New Delhi: Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the sole death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking stay of execution of his death sentence scheduled for July 30.

Memon, in his petition said that all legal remedies have not been exhausted and he has also approached the Maharashtra Governor with a plea for mercy.

He had filed the mercy plea before the Governor immediately after his curative petition was dismissed by the apex court on Tuesday.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu had on July 21 rejected Memon’s plea saying that the grounds raised by him does not fall within the principles laid down by the apex court in 2002 in deciding the curative petition, the last judicial remedy available to an aggrieved person.

Memon, in his plea, had claimed he was suffering from schizophrenia since 1996 and remained behind the bars for nearly 20 years. He had sought commutation of death penalty contending that a convict cannot be awarded life term and the extreme penalty simultaneously for the same offence.

The apex court on April 9 this year had dismissed Memon’s petition seeking review of his death sentence which was upheld on March 21, 2013.

Memon’s review petition was heard by a three-judge bench in an open court in pursuance of a Constitution bench verdict that the practice of deciding review pleas in chambers be done away with, in cases where death penalty has been awarded.

The apex court, on June 2, 2014, had 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.

Memon had sought review of the March 21, 2013 verdict of the apex court upholding his death penalty in the case relating to 13 coordinated bomb blasts in Mumbai, killing 257 persons and injuring over 700 on March 12, 1993.

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: 1993 Mumbai Blast, Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, Yakub Memon

Are gallows also for Mumbai riot convicts, Hindutva terrorists, asks Asaduddin Owaisi

July 23, 2015 by Nasheman

asad-owaisi-on-memon

Mumbai: In a contemptuous attack on the BJP led government for its decision to hang 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon, Parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi Wednesday wondered if the same punishment will also be given to the perpetrators of Babri Masjid demolition, Mumbai and other riot convicts, and Hindutva terrorists.

“Why haven’t the perpetrators of Babri Masjid demolition been convicted, and will they also be given the capital punishment, as that (demolition of the Babri Masjid) is the original sin”, Owaisi, a barrister who is the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), said while talking to ummid.com on phone.

Owaisi was commenting on the hanging of Yakub Memon which is slated on July 30 – his birthday. Yakub Memon – a Chartered Accountant, had surrendered with his family members before the Indian authorities after the 1993 Mumbai blasts which had killed over 250 people. The series of blasts took place soon after the deadly riots that followed the demolition of Babri Masjid by Hindu fanatics.

Stating that Sri Krishna Commission report has been kept in cold storage first by the Congress and now by the BJP, Owaisi said, “About one thousand people were killed in communal riots that followed the Babri Masjid demolition. Many police officers were booked under grievous charges, including murder. How many were convicted? All went scot-free.”

Owaisi however declined any comment on Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss Memon’s curative petition saying, ‘it exonerated the Muslims accused in the Akshardham terror attack’.

Owaisi also asked if the Hindutva terrorists – now in jail for their involvements in the Samjhouta Express, Malegaon, Hyderabad Makkah Masjid and Ajmer blasts, will also be given the same punishment as Yakub Memon.

“Will Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Col Purohit and Swami Aseemanand get capital punishment. This is upto the NIA to prove their guilt in courts”, Owaisi said.

Drawng parallel between Mumbai blasts and Rajive Gandhi assassination, Owaisi said the killers were shown mercy because they have political backing.

“Rajiv Gandhi and Beant Singh killers have backing of political parties. That is why they have not been sent to gallows”, he said.

Recalling how Memon surrendered before the Indian authorities and helped in the investigations, Owaisi said, “I agree with Siddharth Vardharajan (noted journalist) who said that why hang Yakub Memon when he proved Pakistani involvement in the 1993 Mumbai bombing.”

Owaisi also said that Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi – both convicted to life for killing 97 Muslims during the 2002 Gujarat riots, but the Modi government did not allow appeal to enhance their punishment to death.

(Ummid)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: 1993 Mumbai Blast, AIMIM, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi, Yakub Memon

Stop Yakub Memon’s Hanging: PUDR

July 22, 2015 by Nasheman

Yakub Memon

by People’s Union For Demoratic Rights

On 15th July, the Maharashtra government announced that it has initiated the process for hanging Yakub Memon. On 30th July, 2015 ‘he is to be hung by the neck till dead’. The announcement seemed inevitable after the Supreme Court had rejected his review petition on 10th April this year. Except that Yakub Memon has still not exhausted all legal remedies as he has a curative petition due to be heard in the Supreme Court on 21st July. While the state government is treating the matter as already dried and dusted and making a mockery of the justice system, there are some very valid reasons for drawing attention to Yakub’s case for upholding our faith in the judicial process:

1. Controversial arrest: The police claimed to pick Yakub up from the New Delhi Railway Station on 5th August 1994. In a letter written to the Supreme Court in 1999, Yakub stated that he came to India on 28th July 1994. He had been detained on 24th July at Kathmandu airport and then handed over to the Indian agencies.

2. Implicated and sentenced for trying to help: Yakub has maintained all along that he had no foreknowledge of and had no hand in the conspiracy leading to the Mumbai blasts of 1993. He was working towards voluntarily returning to India to clear his name. He co-operated with the investigating agencies and provided vital leads which have been acknowledged. However, the Court never regarded these as mitigating factors.

3. No justice under TADA: The Supreme Court in its 2013 judgement confirming death sentence awarded by the TADA court in 2007, held that Yakub officiated for Tiger Memon in Mumbai in the planning of the attacks in the latter’s absence. The Court accepted that Yakub was nowhere directly involved in the execution of the blasts, but his responsibility was greater as he was one of the planners. It said that he “was constantly present at the Al Husseini building, where the major part of the plan was made and executed”, interacted with ‘Tiger’s men’, managed Tiger’s “ill-gotten money,” arranged for air tickets to Dubai and vehicles which were used in the attacks. He was convicted under TADA (now lapsed), IPC, Arms Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, and under sections of the Explosive Substances Act on retracted confessions, on the statements of approvers and on the confession of co-accused.

4. “Special Stigmatizing”: Yakub had returned in 1994 believing that there would be a fair trial. He was proved wrong. The judgement decreed capital punishment for him because of his “position of dominance” and the “gravity of the crime”. Significantly, the Court commuted the sentences of the 10 others who had been awarded capital punishment by the trial court.

5. Rejection of mitigating factors: The Supreme Court deliberated on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances while awarding the quantum of punishment to all the death row convicts. Notably, in Yakub’s case, the Court noted none other than the fact that he did not have a prior criminal record. However, in the case of the other 10 others sentenced to death, the Court noted several other mitigating factors like lengthy incarceration, good behaviour, co-operating in the investigation, dependent family members etc. which were equally applicable to him. In Yakub’s case, the beginning and end of his being awarded death penalty then is clearly his relationship with Tiger Memon.

6. A discriminated convict: While confirming the death sentence on Yakub, the Court disregarded the fact that he suffered from depression from 1996. Ironically, a year later, while commuting the death penalty of 15 death row convicts in 2014, the same Court noted: “incarceration, in addition to the reasonable time necessary for adjudication of mercy petitions and preparation for execution, flouts the due process guaranteed to the convict under Article 21 which inheres in every prisoner till his last breath.”

7. Incarcerated for 21 years: For 21 years Yakub has lived with the “brooding horror” which “haunts” a condemned prisoner. To hang him now is neither fair nor just as it is punishing him twice over. It is plain vengeance which the state shows towards a condemned and defenceless man.

8. Denial of reform: A chartered accountant by profession, Yakub was known to be a silent observer during court proceedings. In 21 years of which he has spent 8 years in the death row, he has completed two MAs, one in English and the other in Political Science from IGNOU. Several recent judgments have emphasised the importance of reform and rehabilitation based on conduct. However, Yakub’s efforts have never been recognized.

9. A political hanging: The judicial process through which Yakub has been pronounced guilty and deserving of capital punishment has failed to bring to justice the main perpetrators of anti-Muslim carnage in December 1992 and January 1993, despite the Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry identifying a host of police officers and politicians belonging to Shiv Sena for their role. In the last one year, a similar trend is observable in the investigations into attacks committed by Hindu terror groups. 15 witnesses have turned hostile in the Ajmer Dargah blast (2007), the NIA has closed the Modasa case (2008) and has pressured the special prosecutor to ‘go soft’ on the investigations into the Malegeon blasts (2008).

The impending hanging of Yakub Memon raises certain very significant concerns regarding the role of the state and rights of people. As the above points illustrate, Yakub’s ‘crime’ is that of guilt by association and he is a scapegoat who has been conveniently caught and convicted as ‘most guilty’. Yakub Memon returned as a conscientious Indian citizen, albeit with a ‘criminal’ family background. If he is now hanged, the government must take responsibility for sending out the message that a Muslim cannot be a good citizen.

It is also imperative to ask as to what justice will be served through such an execution? Such regressive judicial pronouncement yet again convinces us that death penalty is not only prejudiced but also irrational. Fraught with the possibility of judicial error, the irreversibility of the punishment makes it totally condemnable. Globally, there is a move within countries to progressively do away with this regressive form of punishment. PUDR therefore urges the authorities including the judiciary in this case that in the interests of justice to commute his sentence, and in light of his 21 year-long incarceration to release him.

Megha Bahl, Sharmila Purkayastha

Secretaries, PUDR

Filed Under: India Tagged With: 1993 Mumbai Blast, People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Yakub Memon

1993 blasts convict Yakub Memon to be hanged on July 30

July 15, 2015 by Nasheman

Yakub Memon

Mumbai: Yakub Memon, convicted for his role in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, will be hanged on July 30, official sources said here early Wednesday.

He is likely to be be hanged in the Nagpur Central Jail, where he is currently lodged, following the rejection of his mercy plea in April this year by the president, said the official who declined to be identified.

A chartered accountant, Memon, 53, has filed his second review petition before the Supreme Court which is expected to be heard July 21, but the state government is making all preparations for the hanging with the warrant issued earlier this week.

He was awarded the death sentence by a Special TADA Court in Mumbai on July 27, 2007 for his role in the blasts, including arranging finances for carrying out the 13 serial explosions which left 257 dead and over 700 injured across the city on March 12, 1993.

Subsequently, Memon – the brother of one of the main absconding accused Ibrahim alias Tiger Memon – appealed against the sentence in the Bombay High Court, Supreme Court and later filed a mercy petition with the president, followed by a review petition, and now a second review petition which is pending.

Leading criminal lawyer and a former defence lawyer in the same case Majeed Memon questioned the need for the state government’s “hurry” in the matter even before the outcome of the second review petition.

“Are they pre-empting the issue or are they already before-hand aware of the outcome of the review petition? They should have waited till the matter is finally decided,” Majeed Memon, a top NCP leader and Member of Parliament, told IANS on Wednesday.

(IANS)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: 1993 Mumbai Blast, Yakub Memon

The many wrong messages that hanging Yakub Memon would send

April 21, 2015 by Nasheman

Photo: IE

Photo: IE

by Jyoti Punwani, Scroll

What must Yakub Memon have felt on hearing that the Supreme Court had rejected his review petition against his conviction and death sentence in the 1993 serial Mumbai bomb blasts case. The mocking words of his brother, Ibrahim ‘Tiger’ Memon, advising him not to give himself up to the Indian authorities might have echoed in his ears. “You are returning as a Gandhiwadi, but the Indian government will see you only as a terrorist,” Tiger had told him, according to what Yakub told the special court in Mumbai set up under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act.

On April 16, the Supreme Court rejected Yakub’s review petition against his conviction and sentence. The same court had earlier rejected his appeal against his conviction by a special court in Mumbai in 2006, and the president had rejected his mercy petition in May 2014. On the charges for which Yakub has been convicted, none of his co-accused has been given the death penalty.

Tiger Memon’s words proved prophetic. Yakub gave up life in a gilded cage in Karachi under the ISI’s watch, to come back in July 1994 and clear his name in the case of the 1993 blasts, which had been masterminded by his brother and Dawood Ibrahim. He was followed by seven members of his family. Only Tiger, another brother Ayub, and their families stayed back.

With him, Yakub brought proof of Pakistan’s involvement in the blasts, which India could not have otherwise obtained. He thought this act would earn him a reprieve. Instead, unable to get Dawood Ibrahim or Tiger Memon, the Indian authorities wrecked vengeance on the rest of the Memon family, who had chosen to surrender because of “faith in our government and judiciary”, as Yakub wrote in a letter to the chief justice of India from Arthur Road jail five years after he had set foot on Indian soil. (A copy of the letter appears at the end).

The government did not even have the grace to acknowledge that the Memons had chosen to surrender. Instead, the then home minister, SB Chavan, said in Parliament amidst much thumping of desks that the authorities had arrested Yakub from New Delhi railway station. “I’ve never seen it in my life,” wrote Yakub in his letter.

His family’s incarceration and their deteriorating physical and mental health drove Yakub to depression. In his letter, he wrote that he could not remember the events of one full year in jail when he was confined to bed. In the letter, Yakub also described his life before the March 12, 1993, blasts. It was an ordinary life: SSC with 70%, then college in the morning and work during the day, graduation, post-graduation, four years of studying to be a chartered accountant, and then establishing his own CA firm with a Hindu partner. “We were doing very well…I was very busy. The purpose of giving this brief about myself is to bring home just one single point: “WHERE WAS THE TIME TO HATE…” (upper case in the original).

In his letter, Yakub pointed out that nine of his 15-member family were NRIs settled in Dubai, and the rest would often visit them. On the day of the blasts, they were in Dubai, and got to know only later that one among them had masterminded them. After the blasts, the entire family left for Pakistan. “But we did not lost (sic) hopes of coming back to India and wipe out the stigma attached to our name,” wrote Yakub.

But the stigma would not be wiped out. “The prosecution is harping upon `Memon Family’ during their arguments as if there is a section in CrPC (as in Income Tax laws, while dealing with the HUF- the Hindu Undivided Family), wherein a family can be treated as a single unit. … The main reason for implicating us in the case is that we were in relation (to) and association of the prime accused. Now to be in relation to anyone is not a crime… We do not deny our relation and association with Ibrahim Memon …as a relative and nothing more.”

In 2007, having spent almost 13 years in jail, Yakub was sentenced to death by the TADA court. His brothers Essa and Yusuf, both seriously ill, and sister-in-law Rubeena were sentenced to life imprisonment. When his sentence was read out by the TADA court judge, Yakub cried out: “Forgive him lord, for he knows not what he does.” Seven years later, the Supreme Court upheld the judgement.

But, as both Yakub’s appeal and his review petition, argued by lawyer Jaspal Singh, asserted, Yakub was convicted on the basis of the statement of one approver and the retracted confessions of co-accused. The prosecution did not produce any independent evidence to refute Yakub’s assertion that he knew nothing about the blasts.

With the mercy and review petitions rejected, Yakub is left with little hope: only perhaps a curative petition and another mercy petition. If Yakub is hanged, the message will be clear: if you have committed a crime and have been lucky enough to escape, good for you. If you are suspected of having committed a crime but want to return to India to try and clear your name, be prepared for the worst. Far better to spend your life in luxury, even if it is in a country that is hostile to yours. Not for you the choice of bringing up your children as Indians.

The second message that Yakub’s hanging will send is that there is no place for reformation in our justice system. Among the arguments made by advocate Jaspal Singh in his review petition were his client’s record of good conduct in jail and no evidence by the prosecution that there existed no possibility of reformation. During his 21 years in jail, eight of them on death row, Yakub has obtained an MA in English from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. The authorities of the course denied him permission to attend the convocation, although it was held in Nagpur itself, where he has been lodged since 2007. The day the Supreme Court dismissed his review petition in April, Yakub got an MA from IGNOU in political science.

The third message will perhaps be the most ominous – that our criminal justice system recognises guilt by association. Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon are beyond our reach. Should we rejoice that we have at least one Memon we can hang and lock the others up for life? Was Yakub right in writing: “According to the prosecution if one member does any wrong, entire family …can be punished and society can be shown that the justice is being done?”

Finally, Yakub Memon’s hanging will inevitably draw our attention to the original sin in the chain of events that led to the March 12, 1993 blasts: the Mumbai riots that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Neither those who demolished the Masjid nor those found guilty of the ensuing riots, in which 900 persons were killed, among them 575 Muslims and 275 Hindus, were punished, even though criminal offences were registered against the perpetrators. Two judicial commissions also indicted specific individuals for both crimes.

Among these individuals were 31 policemen, charged with extreme communal conduct against Muslims, including murder. None of them was punished. Nearly all the offenders in both events not only went free, some of them ruled the country as central ministers.

But those who took revenge for the riots, killing 257 people, were not let off. Their punishment ranged from two years to death. All death sentences, except Yakub’s, were six years later commuted to life.

When the TADA court held him guilty, Yakub cried out: “Woh sahi bolta tha, koi insaaf nahin milega, tum log hume terrorist banake chodoge.” What he said was right; you won’t get justice; you will make us into terrorists. He was referring to Tiger Memon’s words. In his letter, Yakub wrote: ‘’Section 20(8) and other draconian provision of this Act does not allow the Designated TADA court judge to look upon us with living and merciful eyes. On the contrary we are presumed to be guilty of TERRORISM.”

The letter that Yakub Memon wrote to the chief justice of India from Arthur Road Jail, five years after he surrendered to Indian authorities in July 1994.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: 1993 Mumbai Blast, Yakub Memon

SC rejects Yakub Memon's plea for review of his death sentence

April 9, 2015 by Nasheman

Photo: IE

Photo: IE

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the plea by 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast mastermind Yaqub Abdul Razak Memon for a review of his death sentence.

Memon had sought the recall of March 21, 2013, apex court order upholding his death sentence by the special court.

The apex court bench of Justice Anil R. Dave, Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Kurian Joseph in its order said the review plea is dismissed. The court had reserved its verdict March 25, 2015.

This is the second time that Memon’s plea for review of the verdict awarding him death sentence has been dismissed.

Memon’s plea for the recall of his death sentence verdict was rejected earlier too, but it was taken up once again as the Constitution bench by its September 2, 2014, judgment said that review pleas in death sentence cases would be heard in the open court by a bench of three judges.

The Constitution bench also ruled: ‘It will also apply where a review petition is already dismissed but the death is not executed so far. In such cases, the petitioners can apply for the reopening of their review petition within one month from the date of this judgment.’

The apex court on June 2, 2014, suspended the execution of the death sentence which was further extended on September 26, 2014, after it issued notice to the Maharashtra government on Memon’s petition for an open court hearing of his plea for the review of the Supreme Court’s verdict upholding his death sentence.

(IANS)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: 1993 Mumbai Blast, Yakub Memon

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