Claiming that he was innocent, the family members of death row convict Yakub Memon on Saturday pleaded for pardon from President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Memon’s wife, Rahin (42), who was accompanied by their 21-year-old daughter, Zubeda, said that the government should pardon him and the capital punishment be commuted to life sentence.
Memon returned to India before Zubeda was born – and after Rahin arrived, she too was made a co-accused. However, she was acquitted by the special TADA court. “We have suffered a lot…my husband has suffered, I have suffered, my daughter has suffered…we are innocent. I request and pray to the President, Prime Minister, Maharashtra Governor and Chief Minister to pardon him,” Rahin said.
“I was few days old when I came to India…My dad is the most important part of my life…my sincere request is to commute the sentence to life term,” said Zubeda. Memon is scheduled to be hanged till death on July 30, incidentally on his 53th birthday in the Nagpur Central Jail. A couple of days ago, Rahin and Zubeda met him in jail. “He is deeply disturbed,” Rahin said.
Rahin, Zubeda and a close relative of the Memon family, Usman Memon, met the media on Saturday and made an appeal to the authorities.
“We still have faith in judiciary....we still have hope...we have surrendered. He came here and surrendered. I have also surrendered. We were very happy, we are innocent,” she said, adding that she had full faith in Yakub.
Narrating the events 22 years ago, Usman Memon said that the Memon family was in Dubai when they called him. “Abdul Razzak (Yakub’s father) broke down while speaking to me. I went to Dubai, they spoke to me, Yakub spoke to me, they wanted to come back, the family had no role,” he said.
Later, while Usman returned to India, the Memon family left for Pakistan. “I met lawyer Shyam Keswani. Thereafter, I met Yakub in Nepal, he had a bag full of audios and videos...that country could have been declared guilty,” Usman said in a reference to Pakistan.