Yakub Memon's death sentence must be revised!

"The fact will only be known when the case comes to its logical end"

We all know how in 1993, 10 blasts rocked the busy city of Mumbai. Its been almost 22 years since then and finally the lone death row convict is due to be executed on the July 30th, 2015. 
Yakub Memon, befallen key conspirator and the driving force in the whole terror act; as quoted by the honourable supreme court of India; might take his last breath before he is hanged in the gallows on 31st July if his mercy petition gets rejected by the Apex court and the Governor of Maharashtra.

Ironically he would turn 53 years of age on the date fixed for his execution. 

If he gets hanged, there will remain these questions unanswered haunting the future prosecutions. 


The question which arises here is , whether the hanging of Yakub Memon is a Pronounced Verdict or he is just a Fall Guy in the whole episode. All the charges that were framed against him were drawn from the confessions of the co-accused who later retracted their statements. Yakub has denied all the allegations throughout the trial and maintained that he is innocent. Infact the court has taken into notice the fact that he was never a part of any of the meetings that were held in Dubai and Pakistan between the masterminds. They have however, disregarded that he surrendered and rather showed that he was nabbed in Kathmandu and then officially arrested at Old Delhi Railway station.
Yakub consistently claims that he surrendered voluntarily before the CBI on 28 July 1994.

People are claiming that hanging would serve justice to the martyrs n victims of the 

attacks. However, the voices are also being raised as to why his mercy plea is being dealt in a harsh manner. 

How things shaped up for Yakub:

Yakub Memon, is the 3rd of the 6 children of Haneefa and late Abdul Razak Memon. He grew up as studious one and completed his Bachelors and Masters in Commerce in 1985. In next 4 years of study he became a Chartered Accountant and opened a company with his friends Chaitanya Mehta which was names Mehta and Memon Associates. Yakub was the most educated member of the Memon family and was even honoured by the Memon community being the best CA. 
He usually was busy with the work that he had no time to chit chat at home. He mentions that he hardly talked to his brother Tiger Memon as they were not in good terms. He just knew that he was in to some electronic goods business and later came to know that he has started smuggling as well. That was the whole info Yakub had about his brother. Now after the Babri episode, riots broke out in Mumbai and Yakub admits that this was the sole reason why his brother wanted to take revenge. His office was burnt with all the files. Situation was already tensed. Suddenly, his brother Tiger tried to persuade the family that they all must shift to their borther's house in Dubai untill the situation settles back home. They agreed as they observed the threats. They took a flight to Dubai via Karachi and as Yakub claim , at the Karachi Airport they were escorted by the Pak officials and were taken outside the Airport without any immigration formalities. They were shifted from Pak to Dubai, also to Bangkok for a while then again brought back to Karachi. During that period, Tiger turned evasive and hence the Memons got the idea that he was the Memon who is being talked about and he is behind this attack. Later Tiger himself told them the truth. He mentions his Father thrashed him after knowing all this. He then decided to stay with them and find out the links and roots and expose them later. He mentioned that he has been loyal to his nation and wanted to tell the nation who were the people behind these brutal attacks and help the Indian Agencies get hold of these masterminds. 
He has also mentioned throughout that he has a lot of faith in the Indian Judiciary. This was the major reason he could gather the guts to come back to India and surrender. Hence, after almost an year, he took a flight to Kathmandu and met his cousin n lawyer to seek advise from him. His cousin told him that its of no use and no one would buy his story. He then started going back and fatefully the six passports he was carrying in his bag were spotted by the security. The Nepalese Police informed the Indian Agencies and Yakub was interrogated for sometime and then later brought to New Delhi and officially shown to have been arrested there. Now here, there is an important point which has been unclear still as noone spoke about it. Memons want to keep quiet about it. And the point is, whether there was a deal between Yakub and the Investigating agencies!!!!
Then he made his statements appeared in the court in 1994, with his wife Rahin and the new born daughter Zubeida. He, also persuaded other family member to come to India, surrender and face the trial. 
He was arrested later and all other family members as well. Trials began. Later in 1999, Yakub wrote to the  Chief Justice of India, mentioning his thoughts about the whole case. He mentioned that he is a good citizen of India, and the Love for his land had brought him back. He expressed that he had full faith in the judiciary of India and wanted to help the agencies crack down on the real culprits of the attacks. He had the option to stay back in Pak and enjoy the luxuries but he chose otherwise and came to India. Sadly, his mercy petitions were constantly rejected. 
Finally after the trials ended, he was given a death penalty. He later appealed to HC which put down his plea and SC in 2013 upheld the decision.
On the contrary, none of the co-accused of the exactly the same charges has been given death sentence and infact as little as rigorous terms of 14 years. Many of them got their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment as well. Although the court while commuting their sentences, justified the act by taking note of the fact that these people just fell prey to the hands of these big masterminds due to their financial circumstances. 

In Yakub Memon's case, there are many factors that could have changed the situation today. 
1- He surrendered himself. 
2- He helped the IB and Indian investigating agencies in exposing Pak's hand in this terror attack. 
3- Had he not decided to flee from Karachi and come to India to surrender, Indian agencies never could have got hold of any of the Memons and many other threads to this terror plot if they had not got Yakub Memon. 
4- Yakub contributed with the trials and the prosecution with full determination.
5- Has spent 22 years in Jail; 12 in detention and 10 as an under-trial. 
6- He was the one to persuade other Memons to flee the Karachi shackles and come to surrender and face trial in India. 
7- He provided the proof in the form of tapes and some other docs to show the Pak , ISI and Pak Govt in the attack. 
8- Had he not given so much of evidence, Indian authorities could never get to know about the key locations of Dawood , Anees and Taufeeq Jalianwala. 
9- He also took a strong stand against his brother Tiger Memon who is one of the Masterminds of the attack. 
10- Look at his behaviour in the jail; he has been a very very sober inmate and often the Jail personnel would consult with him.

He has always shown his faith in the judiciary of India and hence came back to India to surrender as he was fed up of shuffling between Dubai and Karachi. The major motive of his decision to surrender was to clear his name and his family's name from this tag of terrorists. He was even warned by his brother Tiger that he is going to India as a Gandhian but will be regarded a terrorist and will be shown no mercy.
His words infact are proven right.

Its is not that the people who are urging the SC to commute the death sentence for Yakub because they deny the charges against him but the point and the fact to be considered here is that he has already spent 22 years in jail and has been observed to have certain mitigating circumstances. Basis the code of conduct of the accused during the trial becomes one of the factors why his mercy petition needs to be reconsidered. 

Ex SC Judge, Mr M Katju rightly points out that the evidence against Yakub is very fragile and is based on mere confessions of  co-accused who later retracted their statements. Not just him, many MPs, Ex judges and other public figures have questioned the hanging of Yakub Memon, considering the fact that he decided to surrender and irrespective of his denial to all the allegations against him proven by the prosecution, he maintains faith n trust in the judiciary and also never breaks his code of conduct. He has been suffering from Schizophrenia and also from depression. He is usually on anti - depressants and sleeping pills. His health broke down when he gradually saw his family disintegrate into the prison. His two younger brothers who are facing life imprisonment, one of them is suffering from brain tumour and sister-in-law is also in jail for life. 
Many judges who have been associated with Yakub's case, have expressed their disappointment and there is a general sentiment that death penalty is just too harsh for him. 

Considering all these humble facts and position of the honourable SC, there arises a big question that what about the mitigating circumstances with regards to Mr Yakub Memon?? Were they brought to the notice of the SC ?

1. He was convicted of financing the blasts through co-accused Mulchand Shah and the firm M/s Tejarat International owned by his absconding brother Ayub Memon who was in thehawala (money laundering) business with Shah.
2. Yakub has been convicted for providing tickets to the co-accused to travel to Pakistan for arms training.
3. He has been found guilty of possessing arms and ammunition and distributing them among the co-accused, besides purchasing the vehicles used in the explosions.

So it is not at all about being sensitive or insensitive to the victims and paying due regards to the honourable SC. However, it is about looking up and counting on the highest court of justice with a hope that no matter what changes, the judiciary will always be fare and will not discriminate in serving justice , and irrespective of who is approaching. 

With hope that the Apex court will look upon the plea with utmost sensitivity and take into notice the mitigating circumstances as well. 

Lets look at the series of events in brief ; 

* Mar 12, 1993: A series of 13 explosions rock Mumbai resulting in 257 fatalities and injuries to 713 others.

* Apr 19: Actor Sanjay Dutt (accused number 117) arrested.

* Nov 4 : Over 10,000 page-long primary charge sheet filed against 189 accused, including Dutt.

* Nov 19: Case handed over to CBI.

* Apr 1, 1994: TADA court shifted from city’s sessions and civil court to a separate building inside the premises of the Arthur Road Central Jail.

* Apr 10, 1995: 26 accused discharged by the TADA court. Charges framed against the remaining accused.

Supreme Court discharges two more accused — travel agent Abu Asim Azmi (now Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament) and Amjed Meher Baux.

* Apr 19: Trial commences.

* Apr-June: Charges framed against the accused.

* June 30: Two accused, Mohammed Jameel and Usman Jhankanan, turn approvers in the case.

* Oct 14: Dutt granted bail by the Supreme Court.

* Mar 23, 1996: Judge J N Patel transfered and elevated as a high court judge.

* Mar 29: P D Kode designated as a special TADA judge for the case.

* Oct 2000: Examination of 684 prosecution witnesses ends.

* Mar 9-July 18, 2001: Accused record their statements.

* Aug 9: Prosecution begins arguments.

* Oct 18: Prosecution completes arguments.

* Nov 9: Defence starts arguments.

* Aug 22, 2002: Defence closes arguments.

* Feb 20, 2003: Dawood gang member Ejaz Pathan produced in court.

* Mar 20, 2003: Mustafa Dossa’s remand proceedings and trial separated.

* Sept 2003: Trial ends. Court reserves Judgement.

* June 13, 2006: Gangster Abu Salem’s trial separated.

* Aug 10: Judge P D Kode says judgement will be pronounced on September 12.

* Sept 12: Court starts delivering the judgement, pronounces four members of the Memon family guilty, acquits three. 12 convicts awarded death penalty while 20 were given life sentence.

How did the SC decide the conviction and the punishment to all the accused and what exactly happened to other accused:

• The capital punishment of the other 10 death row convicts was commuted to life sentence by a bench of justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan which also upheld the life term awarded to 16 out of 18 convicts.
• The bench also allowed the appeal of Central Bureau of Investigation against the acquittal of four persons -- Sharif Abdul Gafoor Parker, Manoj Kumar Gupta, Farooq Motorwala and Mohd Rafique Usman Shaikh.
• The apex court upheld the death penalty awarded to Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a chartered accountant by profession and brother of absconding accused Tiger Memon, by the designated TADA court.
• The bench said Yakub Memon was the "driving force" and had played a key role in the conspiracy which "warranted death penalty".
• While commuting the death sentence of 10 others to life, the bench said they were people of low strata in the society and were without any regular job and had fallen prey to the main conspirators for their "hidden motives".
• The 10 convicts whose death sentence was commuted to life term were -- Abdul Gani Ismail Turk, Parvez Nazir Ahmed Shaikh, Mushtaq Tarani, Asghar Mukadam, Shahnawaz Qureshi, Shoaib Ghansar, Firoze Amani Malki, Zakir Hussain, Abdul Akhtar Khan and Farooq Pawale.
• The court noted they were the planters of the explosives and they could not be exonerated for the offence.
• It also rejected the contention of Mohammed Moin Faridulla Qureshi, a life convict, seeking discharge from the case on the ground that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence.
• While denying any relief to Qureshi under the Juvenile Justice Act, the bench said he was convicted under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act which is a special law dealing with special category of terrorists.
• "Therefore, there is no need to apply the law relating to juvenile and we are confirming the life sentence awarded to him," the bench said.
• It said Yakub Memon and all absconding accused (Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and others) were "archers" and rest of the accused were "arrows" in their hands.
• The life sentence of Ashrafur Rehman Azimulla was reduced by the court to 10 years while that of Imtiyaz Yunusmiya Ghavte to jail term already undergone.
• The court also enhanced the 14-year jail term awarded to convict Uttam Shantaram Potdar to life term and it also increased the ten-year imprisonment of Shahjahan Dadamya Hajwane to life sentence.
• The apex court said Pakistan-based intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence was also involved in the 1993 blasts and the accused were trained in Pakistan.
• The court, on perusing the evidence, said large number of convicted and absconding persons received training in making RDX and using automatic weapons like AK-56 rifle and hand grenades in Pakistan.
• Confessional statements of the accused makes it clear that the management of training was under the hands of Dawood Ibrahim and others, the bench said.
• It also observed that unfortunately some police officials were also actively involved in the smuggling of explosives.