Why Yakub Memon's execution won't be miscarriage of justice

The 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, was the first ever terrorist attack in the world where RDX was used on such a large scale after World War II. The horrific terrorist crime took away 257 innocent lives, injured 713 people and destroyed property worth Rs 27 crore. It was an attack against our nation, orchestrated by a group of terrorists who decided to create anarchy with the active help of our desperate adversary, Pakistan. The Memon brothers executed the plan, from assembling a team, procuring the arms and ammunitions, imparting training for handling the explosives to finally planting the detonators at the chosen spots in different vehicles.

It was an elaborate operation carried out by a set of professional mercenaries who decided to kill the very same people with whom they had shared their lives since childhood, they decided to maim the very society that they were a successful part of, till yesterday.

Let me state emphatically that Yakub Memon and the others who were arrested by the investigative agencies have been given a fair trial. The case has gone to the highest court of the land. The Supreme Court bench of Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan has stated: "We are satisfied that the prosecution has established all the charges leveled against Yakub and the designated court, after analysing all the material including oral and documentary evidence and the independent witnesses, rightly convicted him."

The court has convicted Yakub Memon and sentenced him to death. We have to respect the judgment delivered by the judiciary. We have an independent and a credible judiciary and the verdict of the court is supreme.

Some eminent people are questioning the judgment of the court by stating that Yakub is not a conspirator. This is an extremely irrational and a mischievous attempt to undermine the process of law. Another misleading argument being put forward is that India was a signatory to an international commitment to abolish death penalty and hence death penalty could not be imposed in India.

One more story that has gained considerable attention in the media is the letter written by B Raman. I would like to know, what is the authenticity of this letter? Nowhere in the letter has it been mentioned that there was a deal or a quid pro quo with the convict. Had there been a deal, Yakub was free to bring it up in the court. He never mentioned anything on these lines. The letter, it is claimed was written in 2007 but has been published a few days ago, more than two years after the passing away of the RAW officer. This only creates confusion, and I see it as an attempt to cast doubts on the integrity of our investigative agencies by vested interests.

Also, I wish to tell Mr Asaddudin Owaisi not to create divisions between the Hindus and Muslims. The need of the hour is to remind the youth that terrorism is a serious problem and it only brings death and destruction. He should refrain from polarising the situation for electoral benefits by misleading people.

Around one thousand innocent families were shattered by the actions of these terrorists. The sufferings of these families can never be compensated for. These victims have waited 22 years for justice, knowing clearly that the key conspirators, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon may never be caught. The victims will never have complete closure.

Let us not forget that this was a devastating strike against our nation. It was a monstrous, most reprehensible and an extremely violent crime against a peace- loving society. We congratulate our investigative agencies and the judiciary for doing a great job by taking this case to its logical conclusion.