IndianSanskriti
open letter by thulla

An Open Letter to “Intelligentsia” of India who opposed death penalty to Yakub Memon by a “THULLA”

Dear “Intelligentsia” of India,

I am not a TV panelist. I am not a “human rights” activist. I am not a lawyer. I am not a political commentator. I am not a best-selling author. I am not the son or  grandson of a famous man. I am a common man. More than a common man, I am an officer in the Indian Police force. And I am writing this letter to all of you, after seeing your robust defence of a terrorist.

Why I mention who I am is important because unlike all of you, I don’t sit in plush AC offices and write editorials seeking clemency for a murderer. Nor do I visit TV studios and shout myself hoarse. Instead I meet such killers every single day. But I don’t meet them for cocktail parties or at press conferences (like some of you do).

I meet them on the road, in the streets, with weapons in their arms and hate in their eyes. I have been in situations with them where they would not hesitate a single moment before pulling the trigger on me, but I have to consider all the ramifications like “human rights”, “due process” and “fake encounter” before I save my life and of the innocent people around me.

Given the above I believe I am in a far better position to comment on a mass murderer like Yakub Memon than any of you are.

To defend this criminal, multitudes of arguments have been put forth by what are now called “Adarsh Liberals” in our society. Luckily, almost no one has pleaded that he is innocent. The situation is such that Indians have to be grateful to our “Intelligentsia” for such small mercies.

But one common hypothesis put forward by many is that Yakub Memon surrendered to the Indian authorities, and then cooperated with the investigations. Plain lies. Late B Raman, one of India’s finest intelligence officers wrote this in his article:

He had come to Kathmandu secretly from Karachi to consult a relative and a lawyer on the advisability of some members of the Memon family, including himself, who felt uncomfortable with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, returning to India and surrendering to the Mumbai police. The relative and the lawyer advised him against surrender due to a fear that justice might not be done to them. They advised Yakub to go back to Karachi.

Before he could board the flight to Karachi, he was picked up by the Nepal police on suspicion, identified and rapidly moved to India.

This was yesterday confirmed on some news channels when they interviewed the Nepali police officer. He re-iterated that there was no deal and Yakub was fleeing to Karachi. Then why are our “Intelligentsia” hell bent on stating otherwise?

Let me put it another way: I know there is a rat in my house, and I place a laddoo in a trap. The rat gets caught and then pleads for mercy saying that he had come to “surrender” because I had offered him a “laddoo” (deal). Do I let him live?

The second common argument is “but we are against death penalty. It is barbaric”. My simple question is: Did it take the death sentence of a terrorist to wake up the bleeding heart activists? Couldn’t you demand a change in law for so many years? Why are you crying for this beast?

For the record even I am not decided on this issue. Just because we are from the police force doesn’t mean we do not value human life. But in the case of a terrorist, what choice do we have? Do we preserve him hoping he will reform? Can terrorists who come with guns in their hands and an unshakable belief that what they are doing (killing innocent people) is right, be ever reformed?

Forget reformation, keeping such a dastardly mind alive is a big security risk too. Every time he is shifted from jails we have to be our toes to see if any attempt will be made by his gang members to either kill him, so that he is silenced or rescue him, so that he can continue his activities. And there is always the risk that one fine day his friends will hold some innocent civilians hostage and demand his release, so that we can put our lives at risk all over again to re-capture him.

You want to abolish death penalty? Go ahead, but not for terrorists.

Some of our “intelligentsia” have been crying that “due processes of law” have not been followed in this case. It is a shame that a case which is going for 2 decades, which has been debated at multiple levels of the judiciary, even at the highest level, is still subjected to scrutiny by mis-informed, half-read, cretins sitting in AC cabins and reading op-eds. If you did have a problem with the process, why did you not raise your voice in 2013 when he was sentenced to death? Why now when his death is imminent? Are these delaying tactics? Where do your loyalties lie dear “Intelligentsia”? I sincerely hope all these people are tried for contempt of court.

And finally there are some utter lowlifes who have given this entire thing a political, communal and even casteist colour. How can one party whichever it may be, be held responsible for a Supreme Court verdict, which has taken 2 decades and during which time multiple political parties have fought in courts against Yakub Memon? Do you have even an iota of conscience and rationality left in you when you make such absurdly illogical statements to defend a terrorist?

In the aftermath of the Gurdaspur attacks, it has been reported that now India may be a target of the ISIS. In such situations Indians must unite and fight such a huge demon. But given how our “Intelligentsia” are hell bent in sowing seeds of discord among us, I fear we will be easy targets for such groups. While we keep shouting Hindu-Muslim, Brahmin-Dalit, BJP-Congress, I fear these terrorists will rip my poor country apart.

– A “thulla”

(The author’s identity has been withheld on request of the author)

The letter was originally shared by OpIndia.com and is republished with their consent.

List of “Eminent” persons who requested President to consider Yakub Memon’s mercy plea:

Justice Panachand Jain (Retd), Justice H.S. Bedi (Retd), Justice P. B. Sawant (Retd), Justice H. Suresh (Retd), Justice K. P. Siva Subramaniam (Retd), Justice S. N. Bhargava (Retd), Justice K Chandru (Retd), Justice Nagmohan Das (Retd), Shatrughan Sinha MP, Mani Shankar Aiyer, MP, Ram Jethmalani, MP, Ahatrughan Sinha (MP), Majeed Memon, MP, Mr. N. Ram, Sitaram Yechury, MP, G.S, CPI(M) D. Raja, MP, CPI, K.T.S Tulsi, MP, H.K. Dua, MP, T. Siva, MP, Prakash Karat, CPI(M), Member, Polit Bureau, Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML)-Liberation, Brinda Karat, CPI(M), Member, Polit Bureau; various academicians, members of the legal fraternity, activists and filmmakers and actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Mahesh Bhatt; and Tushar Gandhi.

We most humbly request your Excellency to consider the case of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon and spare him from the noose of the 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.

 

Yours Sincerely,

  1. Justice Panachand Jain (Retd) Justice H.S. Bedi (Retd)
  2. Justice P. B. Sawant (Retd)Justice H. Suresh (Retd)
  3. Justice K. P. Siva Subramaniam (Retd) Justice S. N. Bhargava (Retd)
  4. Justice K Chandru (Retd)Justice Nagmohan Das (Retd)
  5. Shatrughan Sinha MP Mani Shankar Aiyer, MP
  6. Ram Jethmalani, MP Majeed Memon, MP
  7. Sitaram Yechury, MP, G.S, CPI(M) D. Raja, MP, Secretary, CPI
  8. K.T.S Tulsi, MPH.K. Dua, MP
  9. T. Siva, MP
  10. Prakash Karat, CPI(M), Member, Polit Bureau
  11. Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML)-Liberation
  12. Brinda Karat, CPI(M), Member, Polit Bureau
  13. N. Ram, Senior Journalist
  14. Prashant Bhushan, Senior Lawyer
  15. Jagmati Sangwan, General Secretary, AIDWA
  16. Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, AIPWA
  17. Annie Raja, General Secretary, NFIW
  18. Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation
  19. M. K. Raina, Film & theatre artist
  20. Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker
  21. Naseeruddin Shah, Actor
  22. Mahesh Bhatt, Filmmaker
  23. Lalit Vachani, Filmmaker
  24. Ram Rahman
  25. Vivan Sundaram, Artist
  26. Prof. Prabhat Patnaik
  27. Prof. C. P. Chandrasekhar
  28. Prof. Utsa Patnaik
  29. Ritu Diwan, Former Director & Head Dept of Economics, Mumbai University
  30. Jean Dreze
  31. Pamela Philipose, Journalist
  32. Achin Vanaik
  33. Adv. Flavia Agnes, Director, Majlis Legal Centre, Mumbai.
  34. Parthiv Shah
  35. Prof. Irfan Habib
  36. Prof. Arjun Dev
  37. Prof. D. N. Jha
  38. Prof. Kalpana Kannibaran, Hyderabad
  39. Indira Jaisingh, Former, Addl. Sol. General
  40. Kirti Singh, Former Member, Law Commission
  41. Vrinda Grover, Lawyer
  42. Prof. Abhijit Sen
  43. Dr. Imrana Qadir
  44. Dilip D’souza, Author
  45. Ravi Chelam, Biologist and Conservationist Scientist, Bengaluru
  46. Prof. Sohini Ghosh
  47. Associate Prof. Sabina Gadihoke
  48. Smita Gupta, economist
  49. Prof. Jayati Ghosh
  50. Prof. Jagmohan Singh, Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Ludhiana
  51. Shabnam Hashmi, Anhad
  52. Manisha Sethi, Academic
  53. Prof. Ved Kumari
  54. Biraj Patnaik
  55. Virginia Saldanha
  56. Prof.Madhu Prashad
  57. Anees Azmi
  58. Rahul Saxena
  59. Anjali Mody
  60. Dr. Nikita Sood, Oxford University
  61. Rahul Roy, Filmmaker
  62. Dr. Ayesha Kidwai
  63. Prof. Harbans Mukhia
  64. Adv. Kamayani Bali Mahabal
  65. Binoo John (senior journalist, author)
  66. Nachiket Udupa
  67. N. Jayaram
  68. Prof. Pulin Nayak
  69. Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy
  70. Angana Chatterjee
  71. Deep Joshi
  72. Mr. Tarun Bhartiya, Shillong
  73. Ms. Angela Rangad, Shillong
  74. Sanjay Karkala
  75. Gitanjali Prasad
  76. Vivek Sundara
  77. Arundhati Dhuru NAPM
  78. Sandeep Pandey, Socialist Party
  79. Dr John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council
  80. Chetan Mali
  81. Vidula Ramabai
  82. Nandini Sundar, Professor, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University
  83. Suroor Mander
  84. Rammanohar Reddy
  85. Kiran Bhatty, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
  86. Laxmi Murthy
  87. Aruna Roy, MKSS
  88. Rev. Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh, Shillong
  89. Ms. Kalpana Kumar, Delhi
  90. Asad Zaidi, Writer
  91. Dunu Roy, Hazards Centre, New Delhi
  92. Sohail Akbar
  93. Mr. Napolean S. Mawphniang, Shillong
  94. Ms. Gertrude Lamare, , Shillong
  95. Ms. Janice Pariat, Shillong
  96. Ms. Angela Rangad, Shillong
  97. Mr. Tarun Bhartiya, Shillong
  98. Ms. Mona Mishra, Delhi
  99. Mr. Aflatoon, Varanasi, Secretary (Organisation), Samajwadi Janparishad
  100. Mr. Manas Das, Bangalore
  101. Ms. Amba Kak, Delhi
  102. Kshetrimayum Onil, Imphal
  103. Subrat Kumar Sahu, Delhi
  104. Dr. Kranti Bhavana, Patna
  105. Mr. Taru Dalmia, Delhi
  106. Mr. Apal, Jaunpur
  107. Mr. Mujibur Khan, Delhi
  108. Ms Kanika Kamra, Chandigarh
  109. Ms Neelima Goyal
  110. Ms Brinda Bose, Delhi
  111. Mr. Hossein Fazeli,
  112. Mr. Jatinder Mauhar Singh, Chandigarh
  113. Himanshi Rawat, Delhi
  114. Dhruba J. Dutta
  115. Abhinandita Mathur
  116. Rahul Saxena, Bangalore, India
  117. Muralidharan, Secretary, National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled
  118. Ghazala Jamil
  119. Sohail Hashmi
  120. Prabir Purkayastha
  121. Nikhil De, MKSS
  122. Michael Noronha, (Mysore)
  123. Ovais Sultan Khan
  124. Abha Baiya
  125. Ashok Chowdhury, AIUFWP
  126. Bondita Acharya, Jorhat, Assam
  127. Dr.Rosemary Dzuvichu, Nagaland University, Kohima
  128. Kalyani Menon-Sen
  129. Gita Sen
  130. Vani Subramaniam
  131. Saheli Women’s Resource Centre
  132. Gabriele Dietrich
  133. Niraj Malik
  134. Javed Malick
  135. Kiran Shaheen
  136. Dyuti Ailawadi
  137. Ramlath Kavil
  138. Supriya Madangarli
  139. Amrita Shodhan
  140. Geetanjali Gangoli
  141. Helen Saldana
  142. Albertina Almeida
  143. Pushpa Achanta
  144. Kalpana Mehta
  145. WSS Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression
  146. Vineeta Bal
  147. Malini Subramaniam
  148. Sumi Krishna
  149. Ratna Appnender
  150. Sujata Patel
  151. Chayanika Shah
  152. Sadhna Arya
  153. Asmita Basu
  154. Johanna Lokhande
  155. Pyoli Swatija
  156. Mamta Singh
  157. Ardhendu Sen
  158. Parijata
  159. Sakina Bahora
  160. Juhi Jain
  161. Meena Seshu
  162. Vahida Nainar
  163. Indira Chakravarthy
  164. Anubha Rastogi
  165. Soma KP
  166. Abha Bhaiya
  167. Runu Chakraborty
  168. Shraddha Chickerur
  169. Mihira Sood
  170. Nisha Biswas
  171. Ilina Sen
  172. Preetha Nair
  173. Rakhi Sehgal
  174. Shoma Sen
  175. Greeshma Aruna Rai
  176. Uma Chandru
  177. Shals Mahajan
  178. LABIA Queer Feminist Collective
  179. Sujata Gothoskar
  180. Sandhya Gokhale
  181. Forum Against Oppression of Women
  182. Nikita Sonavane
  183. Lalita Ramdas
  184. Veena Shatrughna
  185. Abhi Nandita Mathur
  186. Freda Guttman
  187. Vinod Mubayi, Co-editor, Insaf Bulletin
  188. T K Raghunathan
  189. Abby Lippman, PhD, Professor Emerita, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  190. Martin Duckworth, cineaste
  191. Shrikumar Poddar NRISAHI
  192. George Abraham NRISAHI
  193. Mohammad Imran NRISAHI
  194. Kasim Sait Progressive Interactions, Chennai
  195. Kareem Sait
  196. Jai Sen
  197. Prof.Praveen Jha
  198. A K Ramakrishnan
  199. Gitanjali Prasad
  200. Rohan Dominic Mathews
  201. Amod Shah
  202. Shreya Agarwal
  203. Anamika Lahiri
  204. Rhea John
  205. Kiran Bhatty
  206. Vanita Leah Falcao
  207. Ankita Aggarwal
  208. Aashish Gupta
  209. Avantika Dhingra
  210. Radhika Jha
  211. Seema Jha
  212. Sridhar A
  213. Farah Naqvi, Writer and Activist, Delhi
  214. Radha Holla Brar
  215. Vinay Kulkarni
  216. Veena Shatrugna
  217. R Srivatsan KS Jacob
  218. Ravi Duggal
  219. Indira Charkavarti
  220. Sulakshna Nandi
  221. Amar Jesani
  222. Dhruv Mankad
  223. Manisha Gupte
  224. Renu Khanna
  225. Sarojini
  226. Saraswathy Ganapathy
  227. Anant Phadke
  228. Chinu Srinivasan
  229. Ygesh Jain
  230. Dr. Mohan Rao
  231. C Sathyamala
  232. Pallavi Gupta
  233. Sukla Sen
  234. Veena Johari
  235. Ajaya Kumar Singh, Social Activist, Odisha Forum for Social Action, Bhubaneswar
  236. Amalendu Upadhyaya, Editor, hastakshep.com
  237. Anjali Monteiro, Mumjbai
  238. Anubha Rastogi, advocate, Mumbai
  239. Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, Jamwal
  240. Apoorvanand, Teacher, DU
  241. Capt. Tauseef H. Mukadam, Airline Pilot – Air Asia India, Bangalore
  242. Darryl D’Monte, Chairperson, Forum of Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI), Mumbai
  243. Devangshu Datta, New Delhi
  244. Farah Naqvi, Writer and Activist, Delhi
  245. Fr. Cedric Prakash sj, Director, PRASHANT, Gujarat
  246. Francis Parmar.Gujarat
  247. G. M. Sheikh, artist, Vadodara
  248. Gagan Sethi, development professional, Gujarat
  249. Geeta Seshu, Journalist, Mumbai, Maharashtra
  250. Ghanshyam Shah, academician, Gujarat
  251. Githa Hariharan, writer, New Delhi
  252. Harsh Kapoor, New Delhi
  253. Harsh Mander, social activist, writer, Aman Biradari, New Delhi
  254. Hussain Indorewala, Asst. Professor, Madhta Pradesh
  255. Indira Chandrasekhar, publisher, New Delhi
  256. K.P. Jayasankar, Mumbai
  257. Manan Trivedi, Social Activist, Gujarat
  258. Manoranjan Mohanty, New Delhi
  259. Mitul Baruah, Syracuse University, NY
  260. Mukul Mangalik, Ramjas College, DU
  261. N.D.Jayaprakash, Social Activist, New Delhi
  262. Nasreen Fazalbhoy, Mumbai
  263. Nilanjana S Roy, New Delhi
  264. Nilima Sheikh, artist, Vadodara
  265. Priya Pillai , Environmental Activist , Greenpeace India.
  266. Radha Khan, Freelance development consultant.
  267. Ram Puniyani, writer, Mumbai
  268. Rohit Chopra, Associate Professor Santa Clara University
  269. Rupa Gulab
  270. S.Q.Masood, activist, Hyderabad
  271. Sadanand Menon, Chennai
  272. Sanjiv Bhatt, IPS Gujarat
  273. Shankar Singh, MKSS, Rajasthan
  274. Sheba George, Director , SAHR WARU , Gujarat
  275. Vineet Tiwari, Progressive Writers Association, Indore
  276. Swarna Rajagopalan, Researcher, Chennai
  277. Isha Khandelwal, Lawyer, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group
  278. Shalini Gera, Lawyer, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group
  279. Nandini Rao, women’s rights activist, New Delhi
  280. Y J Rajendra, GEneral Secretary, PUCL – Karnataka
  281. Irfan Engineer, Mumbai
  282. Prof Archana Prasad
  283. Dr. Dinesh Abrol

 

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