WORLD OF CRISIS

May 4, 2010

Court to hear arguments, may sentence Kasab for 26/11 today


Will it be death for Ajmal Kasab or a life term in prison?

The special 26/11 trial court in Mumbai will hear arguments today from both the prosecution and the defence sides.

On Monday, the court convicted Kasab - the lone surviving terrorist from the 26/11 Mumbai attacks -holding him guilty of most of the 86 charges against him.

Today, Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam will be arguing for maximum possible sentence for Kasab for his offence of waging war against India, murder of innocent people and acts of terror.

He is expected to seek death by hanging for Kasab, while the court-appointed defence lawyer for Kasab, K P Pawar, will probably seek a life sentence. After hearing the arguements, the court may sentence Kasab today.

Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama, with a stubble, Ajmal Kasab kept his head bowed as he heard the verdict in his trial on Monday: Guilty of waging war, murdering 7 people, and helping to kill 159 others in the 62-hour attack on Mumbai that began on 26/11/2008. Of the ten terrorists who arrived by boat to ravage Mumbai, only Kasab was caught alive.

Most of the 86 charges against the 22-year-old Pakistani were upheld. Kasab didn't say a word, not even to his lawyer, not even when the judge announced that on Tuesday, the court will discuss whether to give Kasab the death sentence. He left for his bullet-proof cell through the same bomb-proof underground tunnel that was constructed for him nearly a year ago at the Arthur Road jail.

The guilty verdict for Kasab was a given, considering the catalogue of evidence against him. The real punch in Judge ML Tahilayani's 1500-page judgement lay in the acquittal of the two Indians co-accused of 26/11. Describing Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Shaikh as "blemish-free", the judge ripped into the Mumbai police for the case made against them. The Mumbai police had accused Ansari of preparing maps that he passed to Shaikh in Nepal, maps that were then allegedly shared with Pakistani handlers, and that, according to the police, were found with Abu Ismail, the Pakistani terrorist who partnered with Kasab in attacking first Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and then Cama Hospital on 26/11. Ismail was killed when Kasab was captured by the Mumbai police in the city's Girgaum-Chowpatty area a few hours later.

"Google maps are better than this," said the judge, tearing into the Mumbai police's evidence. The hand-drawn maps they presented in court are flimsy indeed, badly-drawn and impossibly bereft of the sort of detail or dimension that would make them the diagrams of terror that the Mumbai Crime Branch described them to be.

In Kasab's case, however, there was no lack of evidence. The judge relied heavily on Kasab's confession, made originally in July 2009 and withdrawn two months later. More than 600 witnesses testified against Kasab in his 11-month trial. A Mumbai photographer had caught Kasab in action as he opened fire at CST along with Abu Ismail. Those chilling shots showed a young man with a backpack, sneakers and an AK47, targeting in coldest blood, passengers, shopkeepers, even young children during rush hour on a Wednesday evening. Forensic evidence, DNA samples and phone records helped cross the Ts and dot the Is in the case against Kasab.

Another blow to the Mumbai police: The judge has said there's no conclusive evidence about whether it was Kasab who killed Mumbai's three top cops: Hemant Karkare, the chief of the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS); Ashok Kamte, then Additional Commissioner of Police; and Encounter Specialist Vijay Salaskar. It could have been Kasab, or his partner Ismail, or both. The bullets were damaged, so the ballistic evidence is unclear.

Among the main charges that Ajmal Kasab has been held guilty of are:

Murder of 7 people (Highest punishment - Death)
Abetting murder of 159 people
Conspiracy
Under Unlawful Activities Prohibition Act for terrorism
For being part of the banned Lashkar e Taiba
Wrongful confinement of victims
Kidnapping
Under the Explosives Act
Under the Explosives Substances Act
Under the Arms Act
Under the Railways Act
Under the Customs Act
Robbery

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