After Yakub Memon’s hanging, Shashi Tharoor tweets: No evidence that death penalty serves as a deterrent

Shashi Tharoor's comments came on Twitter shortly after the execution of Yakub Memon at Nagpur Central Jail

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Congress leader Shashi Tharoor argued against the practice of death penalty. 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon was hanged early today in Nagpur

Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, in a series of tweets, argued against the practice of death penalty in India. His tweets come in the backdrop of the execution of Yakub Memon, a convict in the 1993 serial Mumbai blasts which killed 257 people and maimed close to 700 others.

Memon was hanged early today after the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented midnight hearing, rejected a plea filed by his lawyers against his execution. President Pranab Mukherjee too had dismissed a mercy petition filed by Memon late on Wednesday.

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Tharoor wrote on Twitter that there is no evidence of a death penalty acting as a deterrent.

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“To the contrary in fact. All it does is exact retribution: unworthy of a Govt,” he wrote.

“We must fight against terrorism w/all the means at our command. But cold-blooded execution has never prevented a terror attack anywhere,” he added.

With several people expressing conflicting opinion on whether Memon’s hanging had merit, Tharoor said that he was not commenting on one specific case.

“That’s for the Supreme Court to decide. Problem is death penalty in principle & practice,” he wrote.

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