Yakub Memon sentenced to death as he had no political backing: Asaddudin Owaisi

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All India Majlis-e-Itthadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday stuck to his stand that 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon got a death sentence because of a lack of political backing, unlike the killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court had dismissed Yakub’s curative petition that held legal procedure was not correctly followed in his case and upheld his death sentence.

Owaisi, who is an MP from Hyderabad, said that if Memon is to be hanged, the accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case should also be hanged.

“If capital punishment given by court of law can bring closure to innocent victims of bomb blast, I demand capital punishment should also be given to actual (plotters) in demolition on Babri Masjid,” Owaisi said.

“…I still stand by the statement I made, capital punishment is being given because there is no political backing. I corroborate my comment by saying it is for every one to learn how Akali Dal has saved the killer of Beant Singh. How Tamil parties have saved killers of Rajiv Ganhdhi from being sent to gallows,” he said.

Owaisi also argued that it was a “fact that Memon surrendered and was not arrested.” The Hyderabad MP said that Memon had cooperated with the investigation agencies to show the chief conspirators behind the Mumbai attacks were Pakistan’s ISI and Tiger Memon but only Yakub was “being sent to gallows.”

“I hope and pray peace will prevail… my stand I will take to my grave. Yakub was involved but he did not deserve capital punishment. He got capital punishment because the then Narasimha Rao government cheated him because he did not have political backing,” he reiterated.

Earlier, a group of 40 eminent personalities had signed a fresh mercy petition asking President Pranab Mukherjee to stay the execution of Memon.

As per the case of the prosecution, the 1993 Mumbai blasts were orchestrated by Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim to seek revenge for the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Yakub, who is the brother of Tiger, was allegedly not the main accused in the conspiracy.

A huge controversy had recently been created in the Yakub issue when Bollywood superstar Salman Khan appeared to have supported the terrorist through tweets asking for his brother Tiger to be implicated instead. Salman later retracted from his tweets and apologised for any potential misunderstanding while sticking to his stand.

 

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