Yakub Memon to be hanged on 30 July

This act of 'justice' will further alienate Indian Muslims

Yakub Memon - the only convict sentenced to death for his involvement in the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai - is reportedly set to be hanged on 30 July. The serial bombings in Mumbai which lead to the deaths of 257 people were apparently in the nature of ‘retributive justice’ for the rioting that took place after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Defined by vigilantism, the bombings punished and took the lives of people who had nothing to with the riots. To paraphrase Sudhir Kakkar, in conditions of riots, the distinction between the victim, perpetrator collapses and a reductive , synoptic worldview takes over and the ‘them’ versus ‘us’ thinking takes over and finer distinctions are elided. This is what may have happened in Mumbai after the Ayodhya riots. All this is not to whitewash or justify the Mumbai bombings. The bombings were ghastly and took the lives of innocent people. But both the bombings and now the potential hanging of one of the perpetrators raise a bevy of questions. First, why did Muslims or some Muslims in Mumbai take the law in their own hands and took recourse to violence? Second, the question pertains to the nature of justice: is capital punishment the answer to violent vigilantism? Will it serve to sate the ‘collective conscience’ of the masses in India? Third, what will the hanging signal to Muslims? Is justice skewed in India? What has happened to the perpetrators of Godhra riots and others of a similar nature? The obvious answer to Muslim vigilantism and acts of counter violence is that Muslims do not appear to have faith in India’s justice system. The judiciary and its concomitant may be viewed by Muslims in India as slanted and beyond their scope and reach. Hence, vigilantism in extreme circumstances and taking recourse to non formal means and methods of seeking justice. The Mumbai underworld springs to mind here. This gels in with what appears to be seen by Indian Muslims as slanted and skewed justice. If, for example, the perpetrators of Gujarat riots were identified, and are known , why are not they meted the same ‘justice’ as was meted out to say Afzal Guru or now Yakub Memon? The obvious inference that Muslims would draw is that there are double standards at work. The corollary to this is not hard to decipher: given that Muslims do not have access to justice like other citizens of the country and given that double standards are at work, the best defense lies in offence and in protection rackets. This is not to justify the means and methods chosen by Indian Muslims but to delineate the psychology behind their inclination to take recourse to extra legal methods to seek ‘retributive justice’. First Post