: Terming the early morning execution of Yakub Memon on Thursday as a “miscarriage of justice,” several people gathered at the Jantar Mantar here in protest. Activists, students from different universities across the city, college professors, social workers were among those who gathered in response to the hanging, while some others were against capital punishment in principle.
“Death Penalty not justice”, “Capital Punishment is the most premeditated of murders”, “Give Justice not death”, and “Legal Murder is not justice,” were some of the placards held up. Roads leading in and out of the Jantar Mantar area were cordoned off. The number of policemen present there far outnumbered the protesters.
Although a protest was held at the same spot on Wednesday night, Thursday was different. While on the night before the execution, the protesters held a candlelight vigil; on Thursday, they sat holding placards and chanting slogans against the death penalty.
Several people were angered by the silence in the electronic media over the execution, even as a virtual storm raged over the social media.
“I got up early in the morning to see whether his mercy petition had been accepted or if he had been hanged. I had to watch news on television for more than an hour before a newsflash came that Yakub Memon had been hanged,” said Ruchi, a Delhi University student who said that she had stopped engaging in the social media after seeing comments from pro-execution supporters. There were several others who were not against the execution, but against India allegedly going back on its promise to Menon that there was nothing to be feared if he co-operated.
