Forget Salman Khan, even ex-RAW officer didn't want death penalty for Yakub Memon

To paraphrase Mark Anthony, I am neither here to bury Salman Khan nor to praise him, but to defend his basic right to freedom of expression and also point out that the actor isn't the only person who is uneasy about Yakub Memon's upcoming hanging. Unless you live under a rock, you might have noticed that Salman Khan received a lot of flak on Sunday after some late-night tweets that questioned the fairness of hanging Yakub Memon in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case instead of his brother Tiger.

While I may have found Salman's complete disregard for the rules of grammar, language and syntax in his tweets more disturbing, others felt that his comments were anti-national and pro-terrorist.

What followed was the usual outrage, online and offline, which forced the police to beef up security outside the actor's home. Effigies were burnt, photoshopped pictures were created (some replacing 'Being Human' with 'Being Terrorist') and the hashtag #SalmanWithTerrorists was a top trend on Twitter.

After facing a lot of criticism from various people, including public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, politicians and even his own father, Salman Khan deleted his tweets. 

Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar wrote to the Maharashtra Governor requesting him to cancel Salman Khan's bail for supporting a convict. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy called him a criminal out on bail and Shaina NC, another BJP spokesperson said Khan's remarks went against the government's efforts to counter terrorism.

Salman later apologised and wrote on Twitter (this time eschewing his usual Hinglish-SMS lingo for full sentences): “I had tweeted that Tiger Memon should hang for his crimes & I stand by it. What I also said is that Yakub Memon should not hang for him. I have not said or implied that Yakub Memon is innocent. I have complete faith in judicial system of our country. Many lives were lost in the Mumbai blasts. And I have repeatedly said the loss of one innocent life is equal to the loss of all humanity.” He added: “My dad called & said I should retract my tweets as they have the potential to create misunderstanding. I here by retract them. I would like to unconditionally apologise for any misunderstanding I may have created unintentionally. I also strongly condemn those who are claiming my tweets are anti religious. I have always said I respect all faiths and I always will.”

The case for leniency for Yakub Memon 

But Salman Khan isn't the only who is queasy about hanging Yakub Memon. One of them was the late B Raman, a former RAW spymaster who had written an article for rediff.com in 2007 that was recently published. Raman had argued that after Yakub had been picked up in Nepal, he had helped and co-operated with the authorities during the investigation.

“If one also takes into consideration his conduct and role after he was informally picked up in Kathmandu, there is a strong case for having second thoughts about the suitability of the death penalty in the subsequent stages of the case,” Raman wrote in the article. While there was absolutely no doubt about Yakub's involvement, his subsequent behaviour and help was something that was never brought to the prosecutor's notice, he wrote. 

I don't agree with Salman Khan most of the time too, I don't watch his movies, have often been abused by his fans and find his protracted battle to twist the legal system quite disturbing. But attacking Salman for questioning Yakub Memon's hanging is unbecoming.

Many of us did the same thing when the verdict about Salman Khan's hit-and-run case was delivered. We all questioned the verdict, the length of the sentence and even the speedy delivery of bail. Does that make us traitors because we disrespected the judiciary? 

Like the rest of us, Salman has the right to freedom of speech and expression. The last time I checked, we lived in a secular democracy, where everyone is supposed to have equal rights. So, whether you are a wannabe op-ed writer or the biggest superstar in the nation, your right to freedom of speech and expression remains the same.

Every single day, we seem to be becoming a more intolerant society. Everything becomes a 'liberals vs bhakts', 'right-wing vs left-wing', and 'patriots vs anti-nationals' debate. We seem to be unable to even acknowledge viewpoints that don't agree with our own. The reaction to anything contrarian is so over-the-top that it's scary. Salman Khan's views may not match mine, but like that oft-quoted (and mis-atributed) Voltaire quote goes: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.”