Yakub's Angels

Read these words: “The blast victims are calling it justice. But look at Bada Qabrastan, and tell me if this looks like closure. Or, the start of something”. That comes from one among thousands who attended the funeral of Yakub Memon, convicted and hanged, on July 30, for the Bombay blasts of 1993. A very large crowd of Muslims mourned Memon. A terrorist was turned into some kind of hero by the media and some 5-star activists. Before we move on, let’s refresh. The serial bomb-blasts were made of 13 bombs placed at crowded locations. It was also the first time many Indians learned about RDX, the deadly explosive. For the record, it was also the first serial bomb-blast across the world. If you read about such an attack today or watched the events on TV, I’m sure your blood would boil enough to seek instant death for the perpetrators. But 22 years later Yakub (one of the key perpetrators) has been turned into some kind of hero for the Sickulars. How did things come to such a pass?

The SC handed out a death sentence to Yakub. This was confirmed in a review petition and the President also rejected his mercy petition in April 2014. Everything was peaceful and forgotten till the Maharashtra govt announced around July 15 that Yakub would be hanged on July 30. All hell broke loose. Suddenly, a host of lawyers, media crooks and hacktivists sprang up from nowhere to seek commutation of death sentence, mercy for his crime and so on. Over 250 so-called “eminent” persons petitioned the President for mercy and this is a small list from The Hindu:

And among the many Rudaalis from Politics, media and other assorted hacktivists who glorify terrorists and seek sympathy for them are the following:

First, many of them claimed the evidence was flawed – FALSE. Then they claimed Yakub had surrendered (Based on some unpublished note of the late RAW officer B.Raman cleverly exploited by Sheela Bhatt of Rediff) so deserved sympathy and not death sentence – FALSE. Then when none of that could be backed by reason, they claimed they were against death penalty in principle. In short, save Yakub by hook or crook even when the SC had gone through his case with a fine tooth-comb. Let’s look at some of the hypocrites where death penalty is concerned. Some of the hacktivists are the same ones who frequently scream “Death to the rapists” after every incident of rape.

Hypocrisy on the issue was flowing like a river during floods. There are many other such hypocrites but I will have to save space and not make this anymore lengthy. From July 28 onward petition after petition was filed by Yakub’s lawyers while another mercy petition was submitted to the President. July 29 evening the SC rejected the final appeal and the President too rejected the mercy petition. Wait! It wasn’t over!

Late in the night the lawyers of Yakub filed another petition at the residence of CJI seeking a 14 day gap to the execution. All frivolous attempts to somehow stall the inevitable. It is commendable that the CJI again convened the court early hours on July 30 to hear the final appeal. This too was rejected. That the CJI and SC gave so much latitude is worthy of applause. This wasn’t a routine bail case – it was a case of a man’s life hanging in the balance and the CJI did the right thing and a splendid job. The ones who failed our judiciary were Yakub’s lawyers, our criminal media and activists.

The lead lawyer for Yakub, Anand Grover, after the final appeal was rejected by SC early morning on July 30 claimed he had no motives for defending Yakub and was doing it pro-bono. However, he blurted out unconsciously that he was doing this “because he was against Modi”. That’s the real long and short of it. All this nonsense was rightly described by the AG, Mukul Rohtagi, as “abuse of process”. Yakub’s lawyers were abusing the process of law which provided them such luxurious latitude. The abuse of law and the process was merely because of political persuasions and not because of any quest for justice. This is something law-makers will have to address to prevent such frivolous burning of midnight oil for an unworthy cause. It is the same with all the media crooks. They too crooned for Yakub only because of their political persuasions – Hatred for Modi and portray him as the person under whom another Muslim would be hanged. Simple! Political hatred and money, of course:

People are not fooled. Almost everyone suspects the lawyers, activists and media have a huge amount of cash-flow from some yet “unknown” sources that promote Islamic extremism and domination. Although the noise was much less then, similar voices started agitating against the hanging of Kasab and Afzal Guru (both were hanged secretly by the previous govt unlike Yakub).

Grover, Yakub’s lawyer, even went on to quote Shekhar Gupta’s stupid argument – that the Home Minister was chasing crooks like Teesta and NGOs instead of preventing attacks like Gurdaspur being one of his motives to defend Yakub. Are you serious? This is one of your stupid motives for defending Yakub? This is truly shameful for a highly placed lawyer because there is no context or connection. All those who defended and wanted mercy for Yakub had no real motive for justice other than their political persuasions and possibly cash-flow. Many activists and media morons went to the extreme of even slamming the SC for being unfair. This, when the SC had stretched itself beyond normal to repeatedly hear petitions for Yakub way into the early hours of July 30 and stretching the legal process for a terrorist that would never be done for other ordinary persons. Here’s Indira Jaising, a defender of Teesta (and wife of Anand Grover) mercilessly slamming the SC. Shameful conduct!

And it went on and on and on till the final hammer of SC came down on the appeals around 5am on July 30. “The defence never rests” and it never should is what I consider one my best articles. But stretching it to frivolous levels is not defence but abuse of process motivated by political persuasions and perhaps truckloads of money. Rudaali-in-Chief Barkha Dutt stayed up all night and when the inevitable happened, she rushed to Mumbai to meet victims of Yakub and the 1993 blasts and scavenge on their misery. One way or another feed on the wounds of any kind. That’s our media. And, of course, I have even heard stupid questions like whether hanging Yakub would deter anything. Here’s one sample of such stupidity:

There have been many train bombings in Mumbai since 1993. There have been many terrorist attacks since 1993, thousands have died. Each time the Rudaalis demand sparing the terrorist as it doesn’t deter further such acts. The media glorifies terrorists and some Track-2 media idiots also hobnob with ISI operatives in Pakistan in multiple visits. This is downright illogical stupidity. There are laws and punishment for rapes, thefts and murders – Do such laws or punishments deter such crimes at all? Laws and punishments are no deterrent for “evil” that resides within some men and women. There is no cure for that. Most people would have had no problems had Yakub Memon’s sentence been commuted to life instead of death. But the severe chest-beating by all these crooks only made the public angrier. As against petitions to the President for mercy, some victims also started petitions to the President for death to Yakub. I estimated many in the public wanted death for Yakub not so much because they wanted him dead but because they hold these chest-beaters and terrorist-sympathisers in greater contempt.

There are many more media houses but I have named only a few due to text limits. Life sentence is sometimes worse than death. As Mr Red so philosophically says in “Shawshank” – “They send you here for life, and that's exactly what they take away”.

Either way, those sympathising with a criminal like Yakub are no less criminals (I don’t include his defence lawyers in this). There are other reasons for death sentence. India has paid a heavy price in the past. Most people remember the hijacking of IC814 in December 1999 when we succumbed and released three extreme terrorists who have now set up new terror outfits in Pakistan. There’s the case of Maqbool Butt who wasn’t executed and an Indian diplomat in London was kidnapped and murdered – IndiraG later approved the hanging of Butt (read here). And all those hypocrites who claim to be against death penalty in principle remained absolutely silent when India (under UPA) voted in the UN against its abolishment. I don’t suggest India should have gone with the UN proposal but these campaigners remained silent, including the happy-tongue-hypocrite Shashi Tharoor. Terrorists may kill one of a family only once but our media and activists kill the victims’ families over and over again.

Defence lawyers plead for proper process and proper administration of justice for the criminal. If at all the media or activists campaign for anything it should be for justice for the victims. It is the opposite in India and the reason is very simple – POLITICS & MONEY! And just how well do Yakub’s Angels look after him? Here’s the Indian Express (one among many) who grandly splashed his funeral on the front page:

And the headline says “THEY” hanged him? Who the hell is THEY? The Hindus? The BJP? A wretched country called India? Or The President of India and our judiciary? Yakub’s death was merited by the law and not some individual, group or entity. Such extreme filth to honour a criminal and a terrorist! Naturally, more and more terrorists will rejoice the support they find in our media and with criminal activists. The popular president, Dr. Kalam’s funeral is consigned to a column on the margin. And even there IE displays its filthy political pursuit – the PM was there so too other senior ministers, but their grand choice of a pic at the funeral is the worthless juvenile retard that does nothing for India and is mostly abroad. Now you know who the entities IE and other media house bat for! Naturally, it emboldens terrorists to issue more threats as a friend of Yakub did:

A coward sits in a hole in some foreign country. He issues threats to India because he has support from our media and criminal activists. He knows he has great support with these anti-nationals and our fake intellectuals. Parties like CPM and CPI want the death penalty abolished – guys who have murder as their political policy. There are Rudaalis like Kavita Krishnan who hold candle vigils for terrorists while her party too (CPI-ML) and associated Naxals slaughter people as a routine. Yakub Memon acknowledges guilt and seeks forgiveness while these little terror-supporters bat for him. But more than all that GOI must start acting against internal unarmed terrorists who pass as Yakub’s angels in our media and NGOs. They aren’t holed out abroad, these traitors are right here amongst us. These are sleeper cells that are angels for terrorists.