By TCN News
Bhopal: The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) on Wednesday expressed dismay, disdain and displeasure at the way President of India has referred the 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon’s latest fresh mercy petition to commute his death penalty to life sentence to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
“The President should not have returned Yakub’s petition to MHA but asserted his supremacy in such a sensitive case involving the issue of life and death and granted reprieve to him. His decision would have been logical as he could have relied his decision on the pleas of about 286 political leaders, jurists and activists who petitioned him on Wednesday in a last ditch effort to spare the noose to Yakub,” A Sayeed, SDPI national president, said in a statement.
Sayeed said that terrorists must be hanged and no mercy should be shown. “However, here this is a very different case as mentioned by the signatories of petition to the President. What reasons quoted by signatories are eye opener to the Government, police, Judiciary and investigative agencies? The signatories have claimed that there were ‘substantive and fresh grounds’ that could be considered on merits,” he added.
He said that if Yakub will be executed then nobody will come to surrender after crime even if given a word by RAW or CBI. “Grant of mercy in this case will send out a message that while this country will not tolerate acts of terrorism, as a nation we are committed to equal application of the power of mercy and values of forgiveness, and justice. Blood-letting and human sacrifice will not make this country a safer place; it will, however, degrade us all,” the statement added.