Revenge Served As Justice

This question was posed by Yakub himself in his outburst in court upon hearing the verdict of guilty pronounced upon him. "They (the law enforcement agencies) could not catch my brother, so they caught me and my family." Such outbursts are common in a court but in his case, they force us to pause and consider if this can indeed be the issue, because of one simple fact—Yakub was not caught by the Maharashtra or Delhi police. He and his two brothers came back voluntarily and, in effect, gave themselves up. Tiger and the other mastermind, Mohammed Dossa, did not. Why should anyone who was even peripherally involved in the murder of 257 persons put a noose around his neck by coming back to India when he had got away scot-free? To this date the Maharashtra police has not provided a satisfactory answer. Nor did Justice Kode do so in his voluminous judgement. And till this is answered, questions over the nature and quality of the verdict will remain.

The question grows larger when one remembers the circumstances in which Yakub, his brothers and their families were arrested. Yakub was apprehended by the Nepalese immigration officials in Kathmandu while boarding a plane. On examining his briefcase, the Nepalese found four passports, a Pakistani ration card in a false name, a photograph of the house in which the Memons were staying in Karachi and video films that conclusively established the existence of links between the Memon family and Dawood Ibrahim, and between Dawood and a known ISI agent in Dubai. Indeed, it was the presence of four passports that made the Nepalese officials decide to bring their Indian counterparts into the picture. The entire proceedings smacked of a set-up, so much so that most of the Maharashtra police’s case against Dawood, and its allegation against the ISI, is based upon evidence it recovered from Yakub. He was smoothly handed over to the Indian authorities in Nepal without any awkward questions of arrest and subsequent extradition, and the same authorities produced him before a hugely attended press conference where he spoke freely. All this suggests it was part of a pre-arranged deal.

Yakub’s outburst in the court—not his first—reflects the anguish of a man savagely betrayed. By coming back in the teeth of the warnings of his brother Tiger, he placed all his trust in the fairness of the Indian police and judicial system. That system has turned against him on grounds that even a layman like myself can see are flimsy, to say the least. Yakub has been convicted on the grounds that he was the financier of the entire plot and advanced Rs 21.9 lakh for it. He has not denied giving his brother the money but said he did not know what the money was for. Without being fully cognisant of the details of the evidence produced in court, it is not possible for me to make a pronouncement on his claim, but since no member of the family has turned approver, it would seem we have only the police’s word to prove that Yakub knew what the money was intended for. If this is indeed so, then the court has reversed the burden of proof and held Yakub guilty until he proves himself innocent. Even under that perverted application of the laws of evidence, the fact that he came back voluntarily should have counted. The fact that it has not does not speak well for India’s judicial system.

Yakub is bound to appeal against his sentence. As in the case of A.R. Geelani, the DelhiUniversity lecturer sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in the Parliament attack in ’01, he may win his freedom, or at most, a nominal sentence. But the question that continues to trouble us is, will every Muslim accused of terrorism face such an uphill task and spend years in filthy jails, separated from his family, reduced to penury by the destruction of his business before he wins his freedom? What value will that freedom have for him when all it will allow him to do is beg? These are questions that every young Muslim in the country is asking. Yakub’s conviction that he and his family have been victimised to exact revenge from the family and the community is, therefore, resonating in minds already fertilised by a history of discrimination and persecution. It’s imperative that the courts not let this happen. Yakub and his family cannot be held guilty till the police and judges have answered the question: if they were involved, why did they return to Mumbai?