New Delhi, Aug 6
Urging that the execution of
1993 Mumbai serial blasts case convict Yakub Memon shouldn't be
politicised, BJP parliamentarian Udit Raj said on Thursday that the
issue of judicial accountability more than the death penalty needs to be
discussed.
"Has anyone, including the media, ever questioned the
political role played by judiciary? There is no point in blaming the
government for everything. The citizens of this country have no say over
judges' appointments. There should be a debate on death penalty that
goes beyond Yakub Memon or any other individual," he said during a
debate on 'Death Penalty and Indian Democracy' organised by the Indian
Women's Press Corps.
The BJP leader said there were more crucial
issues like poverty, unemployment and malnutrition that needed to be
discussed, rather than Memon's execution.
"The hanging of Yakub Memon needn't be politicised," he said.
Earlier,
former Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash
Karat said there was a clear political bias in handing out death
sentences.
"There is a contrast in play. While the death
sentences of Rajiv Gandhi's killers have been commuted, the government
has been fast in executing (parliament attack case convict) Afzal Guru
and Yakub Memon. In India, politicians decide who should be hanged.
Beant Singh's assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana's death sentence was not
commuted but his execution was stayed on the day he was to be hanged.
The call was taken by the then home secretary on March 31, 2012, when
political parties had declared a Punjab bandh. Even the Punjab chief
minister had come down to Delhi to meet the president on the issue,"
Karat said.
Pointing to the case of Afzal Guru, Karat said, "He didn't even get a chance after his mercy plea was rejected."
Karat said the voice of Kashmir was completely ignored while hanging Afzal Guru.
Voicing
similar sentiments, Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar said the death
penalty needs to be abolished and it can't prove a deterrent.
"We have no right to take anyone's life, be it a prisoner or a terrorist," said Aiyar.
He said there was "arbitrariness" in the decision-making process at all levels.
"The
victims have human rights. There is no justice if you hang one person
and leave out 10 others in the Mumbai blasts case," the Congress leader
said.
Aiyar said he fully endorsed Karat's view on doing away with the death sentence.
Karat
earlier mentioned that a resolution was passed by the Karachi Congress
in 1931 against capital punishment and that it was part of India's
freedom movement.
Reacting to this, Aiyar said, "I am in step
with Karat here and a step ahead of my party on the issue of capital
punishment. Our party needs to be reminded about our stand in 1931".
Aiyar
said the process of awarding capital punishment was vitiated by
"arbitrariness and prejudice and is dependent on individuals holding the
post of president, home minister or supreme court judges".
Talking
about a research project on death penalty initiated by the National Law
University, researcher Shreya Rastogi said the findings showed that the
odds were stacked against economically and socially weaker prisoners,
who are condemned to death.
"Our findings were quite
astonishing. We found that 75 per cent of the prisoners are economically
vulnerable and are not in a position to hire lawyers. Another aspect
was that 75 per cent of the prisoners belong to backward classes or
religious minorities," Rastogi said.
The survey was conducted
among 373 prisoners from June 2013 to January 2015 and the final report
will be out this month, Rastogi added.
