Prez urged to grant Yakub reprieve from execution

People from diverse fields today urged President Pranab Mukherjee to grant Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon reprieve from execution with BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, who off and on makes statements uncomfortable to party leadership, among them.
Memon is scheduled to be hanged on July 30 as per the execution warrant issued by TADA Court.
In their 15-page petition submitted to the President, the signatories numbering around 300 and who included several eminent persons, claimed there are "substantive and fresh grounds" that can be considered on merits to give reprieve to Yakub.
The petition came amid a huge debate over Memon's hanging and BJP's condemnation of remarks by parties over the execution, saying such a defence is happening due to "petty politics".

Sinha, who yesterday met and praised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state triggering speculation about the Patna Sahib MP's future in BJP, has apparently gone against the party's stand that the Supreme Court verdict on the Memon issue should be respected.
In the petition, the signatories have cited various legal points and international committments to argue that Memon should not be hanged.

"We most humbly request your Excellency to consider the case of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon and spare him from the noose of death for a crime that was master-minded by someone else to communally divide the country.

"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 signatories said.
Besides Sinha and expelled BJP MP Jethmalani, those, who have signed the petition included MPs like Mani Shankar Aiyar (Congress), Majeed Memon (NCP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), K T S Tulsi and H K Dua (nominated) and T Siva (DMK), former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI(ML)-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Brinda Karat (CPI-M) and filmmakers and actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Mahesh Bhatt, M K Raina and Tushar Gandhi.

It also included various academicians, members of the legal fraternity, activists as well as retired judges-- Justices Panachand Jain, H S Bedi, P B Sawant, H Suresh, K P Siva Subramaniam, S N Bhargava, K Chandru, and Nagmohan Das, noted lawyer Indira Jaising.
Others included academicians like Irfan Habib, Arjun Dev, D N Jha, and social activists Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze and John Dayal.
The signatories said that there are some very "disturbing" aspects of the Yakub case which make the award of death sentence to him as "grossly unfair, arbitrary and excessive.