29/08/2012
AZMAL KASAB SENTENCED TO DEATH
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence of Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in which 166 people were killed.
The Supreme Court said, "Waging war against the country is the primary and foremost offence committed by Kasab." "We are left with no option but to uphold the death sentence of Kasab," the bench added.
The Supreme Court said that the confessional statement of Kasab was very much voluntary and that not providing counsel to Kasab by government at pre-trial stage does not vitiate his trial in the case.
It held that the confessional statement given by Kasab, which he retracted during trial, was very much voluntary except a very small portion.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam and C K Prasad dismissed the plea of 25-year-old Kasab challenging his conviction and death sentence confirmed by the Bombay High Court.
25-year-old Kasab had filed the appeal from jail challenging his conviction and death sentence. The apex court had appointed senior advocate Raju Ramachandran as amicus curiae to argue on behalf of Kasab.
The bench had reserved its verdict on April 25 after a marathon hearing, spanning over two and a half month, of arguments by the prosecution and defence counsel in the terror mayhem, which involved random firing by Kasab and other mercenaries.
Kasab, during the argument in the apex court, had contended that he was not given a free and fair trial and that he was not the part of any larger conspiracy for waging war against India.
He had also contended that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against him beyond doubts and told the bench that his right against self-incrimination as well as his right to get himself adequately represented by a counsel to defend himself in the case had been violated during the trial.
The apex court had stayed Kasab's death sentence on October 10 last year.
Kasab along with nine other Pakistani terrorists had landed in south Mumbai on November 26, 2008 night after travelling from Karachi by sea and had gone on a shooting spree at various city landmarks, in which 166 people were killed.
While Kasab was captured alive, the other terrorists in his group were killed by security forces during the counter-terror operations. The apex court also upheld the acquittal of two Indians, who were alleged to be co-conspirators in the Mumbai terror attack case.
The trial court and Bombay High Court had also given clean chit to Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed in the case.
The bench held that evidence showed that the conspiracy and planning of the 26/11 carnage was hatched in Pakistan.
Reacting to the verdict, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who was appointed by the apex court as amicus curiae to defend Kasab, said, "I bow down to the apex court verdict."
The apex court passed the order on the petition filed by Kasab challenging Bombay High Court's verdict upholding the trial court's judgement convicting him and awarding death sentence in the 26/11 case.
