I/III. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Eminent-people-urge-President-Pranab-Mukherjee-to-reconsider-Yakub-Memons-mercy-plea/articleshow/48227145.cms
Eminent people urge President Pranab Mukherjee to reconsider Yakub Memon's mercy plea PTI | Jul 26, 2015, 08.11 PM IST NEW DELHI: Leaders of various parties including BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and its expelled MP Ram Jethmalani, eminent jurists and people from different walks of life on Sunday submitted a fresh petition to President Pranab Mukherjee requesting him to waive the death sentence of Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon. In the new petition urging stay against imminent execution of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, the signatories claimed that there are "substantive and fresh grounds" that can be considered on merits. Memon is scheduled to be executed on July 30 as per the execution warrant issued by Tada Court. The petition has come at a time when there is a huge political controversy over Memon's hanging and the BJP has condemned the remarks by parties against the hanging of Memon saying such a defence is happening due to "petty politics". BJP MP Sinha, who had a day before met and praised Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, has once again gone against the party's stand on the Memon issue. In the 15-page petition, the signatories have cited various legal points and international commitments to argue that Memon should not be hanged. "We most humbly request your excellency to consider the case of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon and spare him from the noose of death for a crime that was master-minded by someone else to communally divide the country. Grant of mercy in this case will send out a message that while this country will not tolerate acts of terrorism, as a nation we are committed to equal application of the power of mercy and values of forgiveness, and justice. Blood-letting and human sacrifice will not make this country a safer place; it will, however, degrade us all," the signatories said. ***Besides Sinha and Jethmalani, those, who have signed the petition include MPs like Mani Shankar Aiyar (Congress), Majeed Memon (NCP), Sitaram Yechury (CPM), D Raja (CPI), KTS Tulsi and HK Dua (nominated) and T Siva (DMK), former CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI(ML)-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Brinda Karat (CPM) and filmmakers and actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Mahesh Bhatt, MK Raina and Tushar Gandhi.*** [Emphasis added.] ***It also included various academicians, members of the legal fraternity, activists and retired judges - Justice Panachand Jain, Justice HS Bedi, Justice PB Sawant, Justice H Suresh, Justice KP Siva Subramaniam, Justice SN Bhargava, Justice (retd) K Chandru, and Justice Nagmohan Das, noted lawyer Indira Jaising.*** [Emphasis added.] ***Others include academicians like Irfan Habib, Arjun Dev, DN Jha, and social activists Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze and John Dayal.*** [Emphasis added.] They cited that India is a signatory to an international commitment to abolish death penalty and hence death penalty cannot be imposed in India. "Yakub Memon was not given advance notice of the death warrant hearing and as a result of which he and his lawyers could not participate and contest the issuance of the death warrant. Lack of hearing makes the present death warrant void," they said, citing a Supreme Court decision in the May 2015 Shabnam versus Union of India and Others case. They said that there are some very "disturbing" aspects of this case which make the award of death sentence to Yakub Memon as "grossly unfair, arbitrary and excessive". "Yakub Memon has served more than 20 years in prison since his arrest. His trial took 14 years to complete. While the Supreme Court used this long period of incarceration as a mitigating circumstance to commute the death sentences of the other 10 co-accused persons, it applied a different yardstick to Yakub. "The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that lengthy incarceration during pendency of appeal in death cases is a significant mitigating circumstance which ought to be considered in determination of sentence. In the interests of justice we request you to give due importance to this," they said. They also argued that Memon is mentally unfit for execution as he has been suffering from schizophrenia for the last 20 years. "His mental condition has been certified by jail doctors. Schizophrenia as a mental illness has been held by the Supreme Court to render a convict unfit for execution," they said. They have also cited that commutation of death sentences of convicts in other terror cases like late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. "It is also worthwhile to note that death sentences imposed on the aides of Veerappan (convicted and sentenced to death under Tada), Rajiv Gandhi killers and Devender Pal Singh Bhullar have been commuted recently by Supreme Court. "While the mercy petitions of Verappan's aides, Rajiv Gandhi's three killers and Devender Pal Singh Bhullar were decided belatedly by the President, thereby giving them the claim of delay jurisprudence, the home ministry has moved swiftly to reject Yakub Abdul Razak Memon's mercy's petition," they alleged. The petitioners said that it seemed that "subjective factors" were the basis of decisions which lead to arbitrary actions. They also argued that the death sentence has been awarded under Tada which was repealed. "Memon has been tried and sentenced to death under Tada, a special law which was repealed by Parliament on account of it having been used to target minorities," they said and referred to a Supreme Court judgment, which according to them doubted the legality of prosecutions pursued after the repeal of Tada. "Given the highly compromised rule of law credentials of Tada, executing Yakub Memon will perpetuate the dark legacy of this law," they said. II/III. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gross-travesty-of-justice-in-Yakub-Memons-case-Markandey-Katju/articleshow/48225731.cms Gross travesty of justice in Yakub Memon's case: Markandey Katju PTI | Jul 26, 2015, 05.29 PM IST NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) Markandey Katju on Sunday said that there has been "gross travesty of justice" in the case of Yakub Memon, the sole death row convict and a co-conspirator of fugitive Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Katju said after carefully studying the judgment of the court he finds that the evidence on which Memon has been found guilty is "very weak". "This evidence is retracted confession of the co-accused and alleged recoveries," he said. Regarding retracted confessions, he said that "everyone knows how confessions are obtained by the police in our country by torture." Justice (retd) Katju further said that torture is such a terrible thing that one will confess to anything under torture. "Joan of Arc confessed to be a witch under torture. Moreover, in Yakub Memon's case the confession was retracted," he said. Regarding recoveries, he said anyone having knowledge of working of police knows that such alleged recoveries are often planted. On June 21, the Supreme Court had dismissed the curative petition of Memon clearing the decks for his hanging. However, on June 23, Memon again moved the Supreme Court seeking stay of execution of his death sentence. III. http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=Dont-Hang-Yakub-27072015012028 [Times of India Editorial this morning] Jul 27 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai) Don't Hang Yakub B Raman's testimony offers fresh evidence, mitigating circumstances must be considered Before going ahead with the hanging of Yakub Memon it is essential to review testimony that has just come into the public domain from B Raman, doyen of Indian intelligence who also played a crucial role in bringing Memon and his family back to India after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Raman expressed the view that strong mitigating circumstances in Yakub's case are such that he “does not deserve to be hanged“. Reportedly , Yakub had received assurances of leniency from Indian investigators and it was this that prompted him to consider returning to the country . While there's evidence to suggest that Yakub knowingly or un knowingly played a supporting role in the terror plot, whose prime executors were his brother Tiger Memon together with gangster Dawood Ibrahim, it's also the case that Yakub turned over a signifi cant cache of documents and other material that helped unravel the terror plot and proved Pakis tan's complicity in the terror bombings that killed 257 people. Yakub's full cooperation with investiga tors, along with assistance rendered to them in persuading other members of the Memon family to escape ISI's tutelage and come to India to face justice, should be factored into the punishment meted out to him. Besides, carrying out the death sentence would undermine India's fight against terrorism by closing the door for others who may have been lured into radical groups but want to turn back. In this respect, NIA has proposed to offer plea bargains to those accused in terror cases to expedite investigations. Of course such leniency can't be granted to those directly responsible for terror acts. But those who are privy to terror conspiracies can be turned into informants and assets given the right incentives. However, if Yakub is hanged, the efficacy of plea bargains will have been seriously undermined along with Indian ability to crack terror cases in future. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
