[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 31



INDIA:

Yakub Memon's hanging sparks debate over death penalty


The execution of Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon on Thursday sparked a debate 
over death penalty with prominent opposition leaders joining activists in 
calling for a ban and the government saying it cannot afford to take the leap 
at present.

The chorus was led by Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor who said 
"State-sponsored killing" reduces citizens to murderers.

"There is no evidence that death penalty serves as a deterrent: to the contrary 
in fact. All it does is exact retribution: unworthy of a Govt," Tharoor 
tweeted.

The Kerala MP said he was not commenting on the merits of the Yakub Memon 
sentence but on "death penalty in principle and practice".

Congress in general welcomed the hanging of Memon, but Tharoor got support from 
party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar who said: "India is a 
democracy. We set very high standards when it comes to human rights. Why are we 
then not abolishing the death sentence? What benefit are we getting from it?"

DMK parliamentarian Kanimozhi Karunanidhi vowed to move a private member's bill 
in the Rajya Sabha to abolish death sentences.

"India has witnessed 3 executions in 3 years. A lengthy legal process and 
executive clemency could not prevent the government from taking the life of its 
own citizens," she said.

Left parties, the CPI( M) and CPI, reiterated their stand against capital 
punishment. "India should say no to capital punishment. In this regard I am 
moving a private member resolution in the Rajya Sabha," CPI leader D Raja said.

Union minister Arun Jaitley called the debate "legitimate" but made it clear 
there was no way India could afford to take the leap at present due to concerns 
over internal security and cross-border terrorism.

???We are not in a position to abolish death penalty,??? Jaitley said, adding 
that the BJP's ideology was against showing leniency to those who butcher 
innocents.

Read: 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon hanged at Nagpur jail

More than 160 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice 
and 98 of those have abolished it altogether. India is one of the 58 countries 
which still hands out the death penalty, according to a UN reports.

The international voices against Yakub Memon's hanging was led by UN secretary 
general Ban ki moon who emphasied his stand against death sentences.

New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch urged India to order a ban, saying there 
is no evidence that the "cruel" form of punishment acts as a deterrent.

"Why does India cling to capital punishment? Perhaps the government is afraid 
to be seen as soft in the face of horrific terrorist attacks or other crimes 
like the 2013 gangrape of a student in New Delhi. But the often professed goals 
for capital punishment - deterrence, reformation, or justice - hardly hold up 
to scrutiny," said Jayshree Bajoria, a researcher with the organisation.

Eminent jurists too joined the debate. While former attorney general (AG) Soli 
Sorabjee called for a ban on capital punishment, present AG Mukul Rohatgi said 
it wasn't time yet.

Writers and opinion makers who spoke out against the noose mainly said the 
state should not be a party to taking precious lives and that death is never a 
deterrent for terrorists.

A large section of the media stuck to the argument that it was time for India 
to rethink the capital punishment laws.

"India's use of the death penalty demeans the most cherished idea on which our 
republic rests, the idea of justice," wrote the Indian Express in its 
editorial.

The Hindu's editorial said, " A truly lasting solution to the moral dilemma 
that each instance of capital punishment poses will be to abolish it altogether 
and replace it with a sentence of imprisonment for the rest of the convict's 
life."

Others like R Jagannathan, Editor-in-chief at Firstpost argued in favour of 
retaining the maximum penalty saying: "We need the death penalty for our own 
reasons at this stage in our development as a civilised society."

Courts in India had awarded death penalty to 2,052 convicts between 1998 and 
2013, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, but only three were 
executed.

The 3 executions were those of Dhananjoy Chatterjee in 2004, who was convicted 
for the rape and murder of a teenage girl in Kolkata, Ajmal Kasab for the 2008 
Mumbai terror attacks and Afzal Guru for the 2001 Parliament attack.

(source: Hindustan Times)

*************

When SC opened its doors at 3.20 am.


An unprecedented pre-dawn 90-minute hearing in the Supreme Court which began in 
Court Room 4 at 3.20 am sealed the fate of Yakub Memon, convicted in the 1993 
Mumbai blasts case, after his final plea to escape the gallows was dismissed. 
He was hanged to death shortly before 7 am in the Nagpur central jail.

In dramatic developments post mid-night, a battery of lawyers mounted a 
last-minute effort to save 53-year-old Memon from the noose when they rushed to 
the residence of the Chief Justice of India H L Dattu with a petition for an 
urgent hearing.

The move by Memon's counsels came hours after the rejection of his mercy pleas, 
first by Maharashtra Governor and then by the President.

They sought stay of the hanging on the ground that 14 days' time is needed to 
be given to a death row convict to enable him challenge the rejection of his 
mercy plea.

After due consultations, the CJI constituted a 3-judge bench headed by Justice 
Dipak Misra, which had yesterday upheld the death warrant and refused to stay 
its execution.

The lawyers rushed from the CJI's residence to the Tughlak Road residence of 
Supreme Court judge Deepak Misra and then finally a few kilometers away to the 
Supreme Court.

The petition was heard by a three-judge bench in court number 4 after security 
checks at 3.20 am and ended at 4.50 am. The Supreme Court has never before been 
opened in the wee hours for a hearing.

Memon's lawyers and activists cited a Supreme Court judgement in another case 
to argue that he can't be hanged for at least 14 days after his mercy plea was 
rejected.

They also argued that the Maharashtra prison manual, which stipulates that 
there must be a seven-day gap between the rejection of a mercy petition and 
execution, has not been followed.

The Supreme Court rejected these arguments, saying ample opportunity had been 
given to Memon to file his petition after his mercy plea was rejected.

The 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court had yesterday upheld the death warrant 
issued by a TADA court against Memon on April 30 for his execution today.

The bench had also held that a Supreme Court bench's rejection of his curative 
petition against his conviction and sentencing did not suffer from infirmities.

During today's early morning proceedings, Memon's senior counsels Anand Grover 
and Yug Chowdhury contended the authorities were "hell bent" on executing him 
without giving him the right to challenge the rejection of his mercy petition 
by the President, insisting right to life of a condemned prisoner lasts till 
his last breath. Grover said a death row convict is entitled to 14 days 
reprieve after rejection of mercy plea for various purposes.

Opposing Memon's plea, Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi said his fresh petition 
amounted to "abusing" the system.

Rohatgi said the whole exercise was an attempt to prolong Memon's stay in jail 
and get the sentence commuted. "A death warrant upheld just 10 hours ago by 3 
judges cannot be quashed," he said.

"Stay of death warrant would be a travesty of justice. The plea is dismissed," 
said Justice Dipak Misra, writing the judgement for the bench.

The bench was in agreement with Rohatgi, with Justice Mishra saying the convict 
had "ample opportunity" after his first mercy plea was rejected by the 
President on April 11, 2014 which was communicated to him on May 26, 2014.

He said the rejection could have then been challenged before the Supreme Court.

"As a consequence, if we have to stay the death warrant it would be a travesty 
of justice," the bench said, adding "we do not find any merit in the writ 
petition".

Reacting to the verdict, Grover said it was a "tragic mistake" and a "wrong 
decision".

The Supreme Court had described Memon as the "driving spirit" behind the 1993 
Mumbai blasts that left 257 dead and 713 wounded.

His brother, Tiger Memon, and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who masterminded 
the blasts, are absconding. The special TADA court had awarded him death 
penalty on September 12, 2006.

The blasts had followed the communal riots on 1992-93 in the aftermath of the 
Babri Masjid demolition.

source: Kashmir Monitor)

*******************

Kanimozhi to move Bill to abolish death penalty


Taking the party's campaign against death penalty forward, DMK Rajya Sabha MP 
Kanimozhi on Thursday said she would move a Private Members Bill in Parliament 
for abolition of capital punishment.

In a statement, Ms. Kanimozhi said DMK has opposed death penalty in all cases 
and favours the immediate abolition of this practice.

"The party's 2014 Conference in Tiruchi resolved to abolish death penalty as 
did the manifesto for Lok Sabha elections that year. We will work towards 
removing death penalty from statute books. In the upcoming session of 
Parliament, I will move a Private Members Resolution and Private Members Bill 
to abolish death penalty," the statement said.

Pointing out that India witnessed its 3rd execution in 3 years on Thursday with 
the hanging of Yakub Memon, she said over 150 countries in the world do not 
implement capital punishment.

"The Law Commission of India is currently holding consultation on this issue. 
Until the recommendations of the Law Commission are debated in Parliament, we 
urge the government to issue a moratorium on using death penalty. We also 
request the President to not process mercy petitions until this issue is 
settled," she said.

PMK slams urgency

Criticising the urgency shown in the hanging of Memon, PMK founder S. Ramadoss, 
in his tweets, said rules had been flouted during the execution. "The urgency 
shown in hanging Memon should have been avoided. The Supreme Court should have 
analysed the last petition of the convict deeply," he said.

Dr. Ramadoss said former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam stood for abolishing 
death penalty. To hang a man on the day he was laid to rest was a "cruel 
homage", he said.

(source: The Hindu)

********************

Of death sentences, executions, crime and Punishment in India


A death sentence - such as the one handed to Yakub Memon, lone convict of the 
1993 Mumbai serial bombings - is common in India, with 1,303 such verdicts 
between 2004 and 2013, according to this National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) 
prison statistics report.

However, only 3 convicts were executed over this period, 1 each in West Bengal 
(2004), Maharashtra (2012) and Delhi (2013). India saw an execution-free period 
of 7 years between 2004 and 2012.

On August 14 2004, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged at Alipore Central Jail in 
West Bengal on his 42nd birthday, convicted for the rape and murder of a 
teenage girl.

On November 21 2012, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab the only terrorist to have 
survived the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was hanged in Pune's Yerwada Jail.M

On Februrary 9, 2013, Mohammed Afzal Guru, a convict in the 2001 parliament 
attack case, was hanged inside Delhi's Tihar Jail.

In July 2007, Yakub and 11 others were convicted and sentenced to death by a 
special court for planning or carrying out the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed 
nearly 260 people and injured 700.

In March 2013, the Supreme Court upheld Memon???s death sentence, while 
commuting the death sentence of 10 others (one died later) to life 
imprisonment.

On social media, a raging debate with dubious data

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy - reacting to assertions 
that only Muslims were being hanged - recently said that 170 people have been 
hanged in India after 1947 with only 15 of them Muslims, according to Asian 
News International (ANI).

Since independence, at least 60 Muslim (according to their surnames) convicts 
were hanged, according to the Death Penalty Research Report by National Law 
University, Delhi.

The report compiled data from central prisons but is not an exhaustive list 
because many states did not provide complete information. Some states provided 
such reasons: the Kerala and Andhra Pradesh authorities said termites destroyed 
records.

The 35th Law Commission report, released in 1967, said more than 1,400 
prisoners were executed from 1953 to 1963 but does not give religion-wise 
details of hanged convicts.

2007: Year of death sentences

The most death sentences were awarded in 2007 (186), followed by 164 in 2005. 
That year - 2005 - 1,241 death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, 
the most ever.

Uttar Pradesh awarded the most death sentences (318) over the last 10 years. 
Maharashtra was second with 108, followed by Karnataka (107), Bihar (105) and 
Madhya Pradesh (104). These top 5 states comprise almost 57 % of all capital 
punishments awarded in the country between 2004 and 2013.

In Delhi, 2,465 prisoners had death sentences commuted to life imprisonment 
(between 2004 and 2013). Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh were second with 303 death 
sentences commuted to life imprisonment, followed by Bihar (157) and West 
Bengal (104).

Delhi alone accounted for nearly 66 % of all prisoners whose death sentence was 
commuted to life imprisonment between 2004 and 2013.

Death sentence abandoned by 160 countries - not India, China, the US and Japan

About 160 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice while 
98 have abolished it altogether, according to a United Nations report.

In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution towards the 
abolition of capital punishment and the protection of human rights when it 
endorsed a call for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty.

Apart from India, other prominent countries that opposed the resolution 
included China, Japan and the United States.

In 2013, nearly 778 executions were reported in 22 countries, a 14 percent 
growth over 682 executions in 2012.

On Monday, Pakistan executed two murder convicts following a 1-month break 
during the holy month of Ramadan. This adds to 176 executions since December 
2014, after a six-year moratorium on the death penalty.

(source: thehansindia.com)

********************

Different Presidents, different decisions: The story of mercy petitions in 
India----While some presidents were kinder, others were not.


The rejection of Yakub Memon???s mercy petition by the President Shri Pranab 
Mukherjee has once again brought the issue of mercy petitions to limelight. 
Historical data on mercy petitions clearly indicates that different Presidents 
acted differently in dealing with these mercy petitions. While some chose the 
path of commutation in majority cases, others rejected majority of these 
petitions. Since 1948, a total of 4802 mercy petitions were disposed out of 
which 3238 were rejected. In 1564 petitions, the death penalty was commuted to 
life sentence.

The Mercy Petition

Under Article 72 of the Constitution, the President has the power to grant 
pardon and decide on mercy petitions. The article does not contain any 
limitation on the time within which this power has to be exercised. But, the 
Supreme Court has observed in certain recent cases that delays in disposal of 
mercy petitions may be minimized and that the condemned prisoners have a very 
pertinent right in insisting that a decision in the matter be taken within a 
reasonable time.

Mercy Petitions in India - Article 72

Though it looks the President holds the power, former Smt. Prathiba Patil in a 
well known press release issued in 2012 said that the President takes the 
decision only with the aid and advice of the Government of India as per Article 
74 of the constitution.

Numbers through the Decades

As per information available with the Government and data compiled by Bikram 
Jeet Batra in his book 'Court of Last Resort', the number of mercy petitions 
filed & disposed by the President have come down drastically in the last four 
decades.

Mercy Petitions in India - Mercy Petitions Disposed decade wise

More than 1000 mercy petitions were disposed in each of decades 1948-1954, 
1955-1964 & 1965-1974. Since 1974, the number of mercy petitions filed & 
disposed has come down drastically. It has come to such a low that only 9 
petitions were disposed during 1995-2006. Shri K.R.Narayanan & Dr. A P J Abdul 
Kalam were Presidents during this time.

The numbers are so skewed that 94% of all the mercy petitions were disposed in 
the first 26 years while a mere 6% were disposed in the 41 years after that. 
According to Bikram Jeet Batra, the decline in death sentences in general could 
be due to the impact of the new CrPC, 1973 which made life imprisonment the 
ordinary punishment for murder and death sentence the exceptional punishment. 
He also says that in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the death penalty was 
a subject of great controversy in the Supreme Court which led to the landmark 
Bachan Singh formulation of the death penalty being awarded only in the 'rarest 
of rare' case. This looks like a plausible explanation since the number of 
death sentences and the subsequent number of mercy petitions to the President 
has come down drastically post the 1970s.

Mercy Petitions in India - Number of Mercy Petitions Disposed

Rejections & Commutations

There seems to be no uniformity in either the rejection of mercy petitions or 
commutation to life sentence. A look at the percentage of commutations since 
independence substantiates this conclusion. While commutations accounted for 
24% of the decisions in the first few years after independence, these accounted 
for 29% from 1995-1964. The highest percentage of commutations (more than 50%) 
was in the period 1965-1974 when Shri V V Giri & Dr. Zakir Hussain were the 
Presidents. Since then, it has been fluctuating up and down based on the 
President in office. The least percentage of commutations (8.9%) was in the 
period 1985-1994 during Shri R Venkataraman's presidency. This percentage rose 
to 43.8% during 2006-2015 primarily because of the 19 commutations by Smt. 
Prathiba Patil.

A cursory glance at the data for the last six Presidents reveals the complete 
lack of consistency in taking decisions on mercy petitions. While Shri R 
Venkataraman rejected all 40 mercy petitions, Smt. Prathiba Patil rejected just 
3 of the 22 petitions disposed by her. Shri Pranab Mukherjee on the other hand 
rejected more than 92% of the mercy petitions disposed by him. Shri K R 
Narayanan did not dispose a single petition during his time while Dr. A P J 
Abdul Kalam disposed only 2 during this time rejecting 1 and allowimg 
commutation in other. Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma rejected 70% of the petitions 
while allowing commutation in the remaining 30%.

(source: newslaundry.com)

********************

Thousands throng Yakub Memon's peaceful funeral in Mumbai Thursday


Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, the lone death row convict in the March 1993 Mumbai 
serial blasts, was hanged in the Nagpur Central Jail early Thursday, after a 
prolonged legal battle that continued till barely a couple of hours before his 
execution. The day also saw an unprecedented hearing being held at the Supreme 
Court at 3 a.m. when the court rejected Memon's plea seeking postponement of 
his hanging by 14 days. Hours later, Memon climbed on the gallows at 6.35 a.m., 
ironically, on his 54th birthday - and was pronounced dead at 7.01 a.m. by a 
medical team present there, along with a magistrate, a top prison official and 
others.

No family member was allowed inside the temporary hanging yard, inside the jail 
premises where he was made to "hang till death".

Later, the body was sent for an autopsy inside the jail hospital, performed by 
a team from a nearby government hospital. Memon was awarded the death penalty 
by a TADA court for 13 serial blasts that rocked several parts of Mumbai on 
March 12, 1993, resulting in the death of 257 persons and injury to 713 others.

The brother of "prime conspirator" Tiger Memon, Yakub Memon was allegedly 
arrested by the CBI from New Delhi Railway Station in August, 1994, though he 
and his family members disputed the official contentions and claimed he had 
"surrendered" to the Nepal police on July 28, 1994 in Kathmandu. Shocked by the 
execution, Yakub's brother Sulaiman and a cousin Usman, locked themselves up in 
a hotel room nearby, avoiding the media which had assembled in huge numbers 
there.

Memon's wife Raheen and 21-year daughter Zubeida had also arrived in the city 
late Wednesday and were at an unknown location. Around 3.30 a.m., Memon was 
woken up and permitted to take a bath, offered fresh clothes, breakfast of his 
choice, as per laid down standard procedures. He was given facilities to offer 
'namaz' and time to read religious books like Holy Quran, and then permitted a 
brief rest period.

A team of doctors carried out the final medical examination and found him 
physically and mentally fit, before he was taken to the temporary 'phaansi 
yard' (the hanging area) created in the Nagpur central jail. He was hanged at 
6.35 am and pronounced dead after 26 minutes at 7.01 hrs.

Initially, the authorities planned to follow the jail manual and declined to 
hand over Memon's body to the family. Later, Sulaiman submitted a letter to the 
jail demanding that the body should be handed for performing the last rites in 
Mumbai.

The body was released with stringent pre-conditions and brought to Mumbai 
where, wrapped in a white shroud and covered under a black cortege, it was 
taken in an ambulance to the Bismillah Manzil building in Mahim, near his home 
in Al Husseini building, where family members and relatives had gathered and 
offered 'namaz'. Accompanied by family members and a large posse of armed 
police, the body was then taken to the Bada Qabrastan near Marine Lines in 
south Mumbai and buried with full religious rites next to the graves of his 
parents.

A massive crowd gathered for Memon's funeral. A huge media contingent was also 
present to cover the funeral although because of a police gag order, they were 
barred from either photographing or videographing the proceedings. There was 
tight security all over Nagpur, Mumbai and sensitive pockets in the state, 
besides keeping Quick Response Team and anti-riot squads in full readiness.

However, any untoward incident was reported from any part.

The legal battle was a long one. In 2007, Special Judge P.D.Kode of the Special 
TADA Court in Mumbai had found Memon guilty of criminal conspiracy, aiding and 
abetting, facilitating a terrorist act, illegal possession and transportation 
of arms and ammunition and possessing explosives with intent to endanger lives, 
and awarded him the death sentence.

Thereafter, Memon attempted all legal options from the Bombay High Court to the 
Supreme Court and Maharashtra governor to the president, but failed to get a 
reprieve. The efforts continued till barely a couple of hours before the 
hanging on Thursday when a 3-judge bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice 
Prafulla Pant and Justice Amitava Roy, rejected a final plea, clearing the 
ground for his execution.

(source: unnid.com)

**********************

People in Kashmir take out protest against capital punishment


People of Srinagar city in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday took out protest 
against the law of capital punishment existing in the country. The protest came 
in the backdrop of the hanging of 1993 Bombay blasts convict Yakub Memon, who 
was executed early morning on Thursday. While demanding abolishment of death 
penalty, the protestors shouted slogans and displayed posters. Stating that 
sending a person to gallows was violation of human rights, the protestors 
sought a change in the Indian law. Yakub Memon's last hope of avoiding the 
hangman's noose for his role in the 1993 Mumbai bombings was dashed on Thursday 
morning, after the Supreme Court threw out his final plea for mercy hours 
before he was due to be executed. Memon was hanged till death at 7 am on 
Thursday.

(source: ANI news)

****************

Kanimozhi to move Bill to abolish death penalty


Taking the party's campaign against death penalty forward, DMK Rajya Sabha MP 
Kanimozhi on Thursday said she would move a Private Members Bill in Parliament 
for abolition of capital punishment.

In a statement, Ms. Kanimozhi said DMK has opposed death penalty in all cases 
and favours the immediate abolition of this practice.

"The party's 2014 Conference in Tiruchi resolved to abolish death penalty as 
did the manifesto for Lok Sabha elections that year. We will work towards 
removing death penalty from statute books. In the upcoming session of 
Parliament, I will move a Private Members Resolution and Private Members Bill 
to abolish death penalty," the statement said.

Pointing out that India witnessed its 3rd execution in 3 years on Thursday with 
the hanging of Yakub Memon, she said over 150 countries in the world do not 
implement capital punishment.

"The Law Commission of India is currently holding consultation on this issue. 
Until the recommendations of the Law Commission are debated in Parliament, we 
urge the government to issue a moratorium on using death penalty. We also 
request the President to not process mercy petitions until this issue is 
settled," she said.

PMK slams urgency

Criticising the urgency shown in the hanging of Memon, PMK founder S. Ramadoss, 
in his tweets, said rules had been flouted during the execution. "The urgency 
shown in hanging Memon should have been avoided. The Supreme Court should have 
analysed the last petition of the convict deeply," he said.

Dr. Ramadoss said former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam stood for abolishing 
death penalty. To hang a man on the day he was laid to rest was a "cruel 
homage", he said.

(source: The Hindu)

*********************

5 Reasons Why The Death Penalty For Yakub Memon Was Wrong


We have already argued about the need to abolish the death penalty earlier. In 
the case of Yakub Memon, the need to show clemency was far more than some other 
cases. Here are 5 main reasons why Yakub deserved punishment but not the death 
penalty.

1. Failure to reform criminals reflects poorly on India

Let's cut to the chase. Yakub Memon was in jail since 1994. He even received 
masters degrees in political science and English literature from IGNOU, an open 
university. After so many years in prison, what does it tell our society if a 
person's life needs to be taken for justice to be served? Jails are not just 
supposed to house criminals but also inculcate good values and reform 
criminals. If there is no hope of reforming criminals, why make them toil hard 
and just let them serve their sentences? Jail and police reforms in this 
country need to be looked at seriously if we are to become a forward-looking 
country when it comes to treating criminals in our society.

2. Faith in judiciary for those who surrender will reduce

To be clear, there is some controversy regarding the circumstances of Yakub 
Memon's arrest at New Delhi railway station. The images above appeared on 
Scroll some days ago and show the letter written by Yakub to the Chief Justice 
of India from his Arthur Road prison that says he surrendered. There is no 
doubt, though, that it was his co-operation that helped Indian investigative 
agencies in connecting all the loops of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case. The 
State and its citizens need to ask themselves if hanging a person who helps 
investigative agencies is the right approach. It was belief in the Indian 
judiciary system that led Yakub to bring his family members to India and it is 
the same judiciary that hung him today morning. There is no doubt that in 
future, criminals will think twice before deciding to surrender to the police.

3. Jihadists across the border will get fuel to fan anti-India flames

This point is actually pretty self-explanatory. Recruiting jihadists and 
getting them to keep their mouth shut just became a whole lot easier, thanks to 
Yakub???s hanging. At a time when external forces are strengthening their 
resolve and making plans to attack India, this is the absolute wrong message to 
send. We need to show that we accept criminals and their actions can be dealt 
with sternly even without the death penalty. ISIS and ISI torture and kill 
innocents while we kill criminals legally. This is not how a liberal and 
secular democracy must function. Killing any person is morally wrong, 
especially for a country that refuses to entertain mercy killing and 
criminalises suicide attempts.

4. Punishing whoever you get is a wrong precedent to set

In the case of Yakub Memon, the actual masterminds of the bomb blasts such as 
Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon among others are still at-large. We have not 
pursued any strategy to bring them to justice from their hideouts and they 
remain free men after executing the dastardly blasts in Mumbai. Instead, we 
turned on Yakub and punished him for his role in the bomb blasts. When the TADA 
court held him guilty in 2007, Yakub reportedly cried out: "Woh (Tiger Memon) 
sahi bolta tha, koi insaaf nahin milega, tum log hume terrorist banake 
chodoge."

5. Bloodlust never helps in the long run

Finally, we need to address our issue of bloodlust. While we claim that we are 
one of the most peaceful nations on earth (based largely on the myth that we 
never attacked any foreign power), we forget restraint and non-violence 
preached by Mahatma Gandhi when it comes to the death penalty. Yakub deserved 
punishment but did he really deserve to die? We do not think logically before 
coming to a conclusion. We divide our logic along convenient lines of our own 
sense of justice that often ends in bloodlust. We need to embrace the fact that 
as long as death results in death, there can be no getting away from the 
vicious cycle of crime and punishment anywhere in the world.

(source: mensxp.com)