SDPI NEWS NETWORK:
31st July, 2015: Kolkata:
A protest street corner meeting against double standard was organised at Seven (7) Point, Park Circus in Kolkata from 1 pm to 3.45pm. Nearly two hundred people attend. Mr Saroor Alam, Kolkata President, Mr Zainul Abedin, Kolkata District Committee member, Mr Aftab Alam, State Secretary, Prof Dr Md Afsar Ali, State General Secretary and Mr Tayedul Islam, State President delivered their speeches. Some media men, print media and electronic media attend the media."
Press Release
The Social
Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), has termed the hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts
convict Yaqub Memon as tragic. It seemed that the state was hell bent to
execute Memon. However, the death penalty was not the answer to terrorism, and
underlined that he was not the main accused, the party said.
SDPI national
president A. Sayeed in a statement said that putting off Memon’s execution
would have be a “fitting tribute to the humane legacy” of former President APJ
Abdul Kalam, who had opposed the death penalty. It is a misguided attempt to
prevent terrorism, and a disappointing use of the criminal justice system as a
tool for retribution, he added.
Sayeed said that
India has failed to bring to justice any of the key perpetrators of the 1993
bombings. What it has achieved, though, is to send a message that its great
justice system hanged the one who came back and cooperated; that it is
unforgiving and that reformation is not guaranteed to any fugitive who may be
considering turning himself in.
He said that
Yaqub was jailed for so long and thus there was no point in giving him capital
punishment after so much delay. Now, the Government of India should focus on
next bunch of criminal to expedite their cases. If hanging of Yaqub was
necessary, but so it is for all other such cases as well. Selective procedurals
being followed is what divides the nation, and leads to rift in the society.
He wondered why
this kind of determination is not seen in the Judiciary and with the President
of India in the case of convicts who murdered the Prime Minister of this
country by shattering his body into pieces?? And Jayalalitha is trying to
release the convicts from the Jails? In such a country will the terrorists give
any respect to the government?
Sayeed noted that
the petition by Yaqub's lawyers faulted the rejection of mercy petitions by the
President and the governor for non-application of mind as the new clemency
petitions sought commutation of death penalty to life imprisonment on grounds
which were different from the reasons cited by the convict in 2013 while
seeking mercy from the President. Moreover, according to rules, the nearest
legal centre must be contacted the day mercy plea gets rejected. That did not happen.
The statement
said that Yaqub Memon was guilty. But in hanging him we passed up an
opportunity to amplify the scope for grace and empathy in our justice system if
a convict presented mitigating behaviour after committing a crime. This is all
the starker because India is neither a muscular security state nor a merciful
nation. The government should show "similar commitment" in all cases
of terror as it showed in the case of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yaqub.
There have been
several riots against the Muslims since independence where thousands of Muslims
have suffered. Did governments take any action to prosecute /imprisoned anyone
in this crime? Is killing of Muslims is not terrorism only vice versa is
terrorism, the statement said. There were riot in Mumbai in 1992 where more
than one thousand Muslims were butchered by police and saffron terrorists as
pointed out by Sree Krishna Commission where nearly one thousand Hindu fanatics
were indicated. But no legal action or prosecution took place. This double
standard will ever be a black mark on the face of this great country.
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