Clashes in central Delhi after the hanging of Afzal Guru, 2013. Demotix/ Louis Dowse. All rights reserved.Earlier today, Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant convicted in connection with the 1993 Bombay bombings case, was hanged on his 53rd birthday despite many eminent Indians’ pleas that as he had assisted with the investigations and provided vital information, his life should be spared, especially as he had already spent two decades in jail.
Given that the current main constituent of the ruling coalition, namely the Bharatiya Janata Party, and of the previous, the Congress, are near identical in their main policy thrusts, it is hardly surprising that the last two men to be hanged in India were Muslims, as was Memon. Not necessarily by design but a majority of the prison population consists of the poor, Dalits (“untouchables”), Muslims and indigenous peoples. Their representation on death row is even higher.
The Bombay blasts killed 257 people and while Memon might have played a role in the conspiracy leading up to it, given the cooperation he extended officials, he deserved leniency, according to a former top intelligence officer, B. Raman.
