"I know him intimately; he has been fighting for me in many courts, in many cases. I know his honesty, integrity. His name is Ram Jethmalani. He tried hard in every possible way, saying that there is no evidence; you cannot murder an innocent man. But power is blind, and when blind power becomes revengeful then it is absolutely destructive.

"I am not concerned that one man has been hanged. My concern is, as a citizen of this country, that hanging an innocent man is hanging justice itself, is hanging democracy, freedom of individuality, freedom of expression – even freedom to be innocent! And these politicians go on talking about justice and democracy, and under these beautiful names everything corrupt and inhuman goes on, beautifully. Not a single intellectual, or a single freedom lover, nor a single man who would like equal justice for all, has raised any protest.

"Ram Jethmalani, as a final effort, approached the World Court. The World Court said, 'Put us in contact with the president.' The secretary of the president said, 'It is too late' – it was only eight-thirty in the evening – 'and we cannot disturb the president at this late hour, and in the morning the man will be hanged.' When the man was hanged, Rajiv Gandhi was playing on the grounds as if nothing was happening.

"This country has been fighting for freedom – not for this freedom. It has been fighting for justice – not for this justice, where you don't have any evidence of any kind. You are murdering the constitution of the country, its justice; you are destroying its freedom. And there is no protest.

"People are so conditioned to be slaves, that when the whole country should have risen against this criminal act of the Supreme Court and the president of India, there is not even a single sign. It seems the whole country has been castrated.

"But I protest with my whole heart!

"In the first place, death is not a right way of punishment, even to the person who has murdered somebody. This is the law of the jungle, an eye for an eye. It is not justice. The man has murdered somebody, and you murder the man! Can blood wash your hands which are full of blood?

"And as far as talking is concerned, all the leaders, all the politicians go on talking about beautiful things, giving hope and consolation to the masses, but the fact is that there is no law, no constitution."