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Was Yakub Memon innocent?

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Yakub Memon has been executed today (July 30) at 6:45 am. But his last words with his 21 year old daughter will be remembered and preserved in the memories of his kith and kin.

His last words to his jail inmates were powerful too: "I wish I had listened to Tiger" and "I have not been given justice that I deserved".

Yakub Memon

[Read: Yakub Memon told inmates: How I wished I had listened to Tiger]

With hundreds campaigning against the execution of the 1993 Bombay Blast suspect, for a fraction of a second the mind defies logic, bringing speculation to the fore, asking strange and unanswerable questions: What if Yakub really was innocent? Did we go wrong somewhere? Were there more stories to the sentencing and the execution of Memon?

Facing the facts

These could be hard to digest, but what exactly did we gain from hanging Yakub? Someone who is said to have surrendered himself and helped the investigators unravel a lot of mysteries linked to the bomb blasts.

Didn't we send a wrong message to the terrorists, instead of the message we actually wanted to send? For all that we know, they are sure of the sluggish judiciary in India.

A terrorist who should have been sentenced to death within 23 months was given 23 years to live before execution. Forget the tax payer's money, what if he escaped with the help of his brother?

[Read: Father's Love for daughter: What was Yakub Memon's last wish?]

Some say justice for blast victims prevailed. In that case, the government should be questioned what it did for the families who went through a major crisis then? Certainly, the state coffers were not opened to help them out!

Did the blasts stop after that? No. Will they stop after Yakub's death? Obviously not, especially when we have cold-blooded murderers like the ISIS and Al-QAeda lurking at the corner who have been trained to die a martyr's death.

He had been there, seen that

Yakub was up and close with his brother Tiger Memon and has seen the blast being planned under his nose. Some say, it was out of pure repentance that he came back to India, despite being warned by his brother-Tiger, and surrendered. He, in fact, revealed the role played by Pakistan in the blasts.

Reformation was in his blood. A Chartered Accountant by profession and a double MA holder, Yakub had helped two of his inmates in the jail to crack the SSC exams.

[Read: 'Innocents are being called terrorists', Yakub Memon on his conviction]

He reiterated that he wanted to survive and serve the nation and that he was being punished for being Tiger's brother. Evidently, he had it in him. What if the state used him as an ambassador of peace, giving first hand experience of what terrorism felt like and the futility of it. He could have given an account of the the hollowness of jihad in the name of religion and foreign-sponsored terrorism as a result of that.

Was Yakub a victim of the State? Why were Tiger and Dawood forgotten?

The real underdogs-Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim who were the real masters of the blasts have been conveniently forgotten. Wasn't it better if instead of collecting evidences against a smaller, weaker entity like Yakub Memon, we had considered working on bring the masters back to India? That could have given us a little higher moral stand as a follower of Gandhi.

[Read: Memon's execution misguided attempt to tackle terror: Amnesty]

On second thoughts, a more realistic picture of the reason behind the execution becomes clear. Yakub's death would push the memories of Dawood and Tiger aside. For some time, India would be reassured of the government's take on terrorists. A mere eyewash, one can say.

But aren't the real culprits still free? Tiger may be mourning his brother today and Dawood may have already sent his condolences to him, but both are safe and so are the state secrets.

Wife Rahin echoes Yakub

Rahin, who was also arrested with her husband for planning the 1993 Bombay blasts, was acquitted due to lack of evidence. While speaking to the media yesterday (JUly 29), Rahin said,"I still can't come to terms with it. It never occurred to us that the court could send Yakub to the gallows. It feels like a bad dream... and today is his birthday. I am going to start fighting now. I have faith first in Allah. I also believe in our judiciary. Most importantly, I believe that my Yakub is innocent. He has sworn by our daughter that he has done nothing wrong. If he had, I would have left him long ago."

[Read: Yakub Memon Hanged: Indians divided over his execution; Twitter flooded with comments]

She further added,"Why have they done this to him?'' she asks. "Just because he came back? Are we still living in the Stone Age? Just for society you put one brother behind bars for 14 years and then condemn him to death for his brother's sins. Yakub is being hanged because of the Memon tag. This surname has destroyed him. Yakub always said he would come out since he had done nothing wrong. Why would we return to India if we had something to hide? Why have Tiger and Ayub (the absconding brothers and blast masterminds) not come back? Because they know they will be punished".

[Read: "I would fight. I want justice", says Yakub Memon's distraught wife]

Even if there is some amount of truth in what Rahin said, India has a lot of answering to do.

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