Today has been a historic day for the Indian judiciary and probably a mundane day for all Indians. Today one of the convicts of the ’93 cataclysmic blasts in Mumbai was sent to gallows and hanged till death.
My early memories of the blasts go way back, I was probably six or seven at the time of the riots and subsequent bombings, I watched on the television as the city burned and the communal carnage spread over two months and which killed over 900 people. And as majority of Indians I forgot about it and went on with my life. We in India have started accepting terrorism as a part of our existence, it does not seem like an awkward event anymore, and we live with the scare every day. We do forget about it amidst our busy day to day activities but we can’t deny the threat that hurls upon our heads every single day.
So I came back to the issue of the bombings a few years earlier when my brother insisted that I watch ‘Black Friday’, a movie based on the bombings and it turned about to be really good, Obviously for a day or two after that I was googling only about the victims or the convicts. And time went by once again.
It’s only recently when Yakub Memon was announced to be sent to the gallows on the 30th September 2015 that I came back to the topic. I revisited the history drilling down each and every detail, consuming most of my days (you ask why such fanaticism for a criminal, I say ‘that’s the way I am, I get obsessed and then it’s so hard for to get out of it’). So the whole media was filled with petitions for mercy or petitions to continue his hanging. Somehow the Indians (not all of course) were divided on this issue which had cost 257 lives and this only piqued my curiosity.
Everybody by now knows the background of it all but this is how I see it,
Babri Masjid is demolished by hindus in Ayodhya followed by riots two times in Mumbai where muslims are targeted and eventually hindus are targeted too and finally muslims upset about what has been done to their community led by a man who wants to climb high on the underworld fraternity decides to bomb and kill innocent people. The whole picture for me is confusing I find it hard to blame it on one person or one community.
But some points I want to make here:
In the first place politicians and the honorable Supreme Court should have tried to stop the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Â They must have tried I am sure, but I think enough was not done.
Terrorism and bombing is wrong in any which way there can be never be a justification for it. Every country should do all in their might to curb them.
If in case Yakub memon had come back to help the Indian agencies and was promised leniency in return as many articles claim, then wrong was done to him too. Had he been wronged by the Indian agencies? (http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/yakub-memon-break-the-official-omerta/)
It was great of the Chief Justice of India to open his doors at midnight to hear the last plea of the convict, only reassures my faith in democracy a bit atleast.
I just hope the victims of the blasts find the closure, a bit of it atleast while the main convict lives a comfortable life in some other country. (http://www.mid-day.com/articles/1993-mumbai-blasts-for-21-years-family-visits-blast-site-to-pay-tribute-to-dead-son/15156103)
I was closely following the developments of this case in the past week, I could never decide what I wanted for this case to turn out like. I was not sure if I wanted the punishment or mercy for him.
But I am sure and clear on some things we don’t value life, politics and power reigns supreme and the life of a common man does not matter to anyone.
On a cold December morning in 1992 Rama was born in Ayodhya yet again, and 23 years later Yakub Memon was hanged to death.
I cannot clearly say that justice prevailed or not!
Stumbler Will Find Her Way !! 
I was so filled with mixed feelings this morning when I read the news about his death sentence being confirmed. May be, not being able to get hands on the real truth or failing to accept the news in-front of us is the reason for these mixed feelings.
Then, it occurred to me that no matter what happened, I couldn’t be any bit happier with any death sentence and so I understood why my brain choose to stay numb. If he is an innocent man, then it really is a sad day and even if he isn’t, it still is a sad day as it is death for death. And this kind of act, has never solved anything in this world.
This is a very sensible post and I’m glad blogs are serving as a good place for people to come out and talk on issues that we should be concerned about. Thanks, hey.
Exactly my point.. Well the system in itself is confusing.. I think i read a lot about and hence would need a day or two to get it out of system but i am glad i wrote about it 🙂
Such a thoughtful and unsettling post — and IMO “unsettling” is a good thing when life, death, and justice are involved. I live about 90 miles from Boston (Massachusetts, USA), where the Boston Marathon bombing took place in 2013. Three people were killed, and many more seriously injured. It was a traumatic event in so many ways. Earlier this year, the surviving bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was sentenced to death. I don’t support capital punishment, in part because it’s not fairly applied: poor people and people of color are executed far more often than people who can afford good lawyers. After the sentencing, plenty of people — including some I know personally — were cheering because for them it was all about vengeance and they wanted revenge. It was very ugly, and the kind of thing that starts the eye for an eye for an eye cycle that you talk about. Other people talked about “closure,” but I don’t think the main purpose of execution, or any kind of criminal justice, is to give closure to those affected directly or indirectly. Closure is something we have to find for ourselves.
In the case you write about, there’s also the angle about executing someone in 2015 for a crime committed in 1993. I’m not the same person I was 22 years ago, and Yakub Memon probably wasn’t either. This often happens in the U.S. because the trials and appeals take a long time: a criminal isn’t executed till 10 or more years after the crime was committed. I don’t see how this serves justice, or society, or the victims of the crime.
Thank you for writing this.
Yes it is unsettling… Its tough to draw a line is all I know… Thanks for the like.. 🙂