Ajmal Kasab's death sentence upheld by Supreme Court: Excerpts from the judgement

New Delhi: Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab's death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Kasab, the only terrorist caught alive during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, wanted the death sentence handed to him by the Bombay High Court to be commuted to life imprisonment. Today's verdict was pronounced by a two judge bench of Justices CK Prasad and Aftab Alam. Here are some of the excerpts from the judgement:

Kasab, in his mind, was a "patriotic" Pakistani
The appellant's refusal to accept the services of an Indian lawyer and his demand for a lawyer from his country cannot be anything but his own independent decision. The demand for a Pakistani lawyer in those circumstances, and especially when Pakistan was denying that the appellant was even a Pakistani citizen, might have been impractical, even foolish, but the man certainly did not need any advice from an Indian court or authority as to his rights under the Indian Constitution. He was acting quite independently and, in his mind, he was a "patriotic" Pakistani at war with this country.

On Kasab getting the best legal assistance
Kasab was unrepresented in the appeal preferred by him from jail and this Court, therefore, appointed Mr. Raju Ramachandran, senior advocate, assisted by Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, to represent him. He was thus able to get legal assistance of a standard and quality that is not available to a majority of Indian nationals approaching this Court against their conviction and sentence.

Rarest of rare case since the birth of our Republic
In short, this is a case of terrorist attack from across the border. It has a magnitude of unprecedented enormity on all scales. The conspiracy behind the attack was as deep and large as it was vicious. The preparation and training for the execution was as thorough as the execution was ruthless. In terms of loss of life and property, and more importantly in its traumatizing effect, this case stands alone, or it is at least the very rarest of rare to come before this Court since the birth of the Republic. Therefore, it should also attract the rarest of rare punishment.

On clinching evidence on Pakistan
The most clinching evidence regarding conspiracy comes from the recordings of intercepted telephone calls between the terrorists and their coconspirators and collaborators sitting in a foreign land that, in light of the overall facts and circumstances of the case, can only be Pakistan.

On Pak Terrorists trying to show they were Indian Muslims
The deception, the falsehood that the terrorists were Indian Muslims coming from Hyderabad and were connected with some fictitious organization called Mujaheddin, Hyderabad Deccan, is one of the most ominous and distressing parts of the conspiracy. If the appellant had not been caught alive and the investigating agencies had not been able to unravel the conspiracy fully and in all its devious ways, the terrorists might have passed as Indian Muslims and that would have led to devastating short-term and equally debilitating long-term consequences. It would have caused a cleavage of distrust and suspicion between communities and disturbed the communal peace and harmony of the country. It is not impossible that conflagrations would have erupted in different parts of the country which the governments would have found difficult to contain.

On what Jinnah might have thought of the attack
It is reported that it was at the Taj Mahal Hotel ballroom that, on February 20, 1918, at her eighteenth birthday party, Ruttie had accepted Mr Jinnah's hand in marriage while the band was playing the Chopin tune, So Deep is the Night. It is also reported that both Mr. Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan, and Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the President of the Indian National Congress, often held court at Taj Mahal Hotel.

One wonders what Quaid-e-Azam would have thought of the terrorist attack on his favourite city in the subcontinent and especially on Taj Mahal Hotel, with which he had a personal relationship of a very intimate kind.

Media coverage on 26/11 attack blamed
"Apart from the transcripts, we can take judicial notice of the fact that the terrorists attacks at all the places, in the goriest details, were shown live on the Indian TV from beginning to end almost non-stop. All the channels were competing with each other in showing the latest developments on a minute to minute basis, including the positions and the movements of the security forces engaged in flushing out the terrorists. The reckless coverage of the terrorist attack by the channels thus gave rise to a situation where on the one hand the terrorists were completely hidden from the security forces and they had no means to know their exact position or even the kind of firearms and explosives they possessed and on the other hand the positions of the security forces, their weapons and all their operational movements were being watched by the collaborators across the border on TV screens and being communicated to the terrorists.

...But it is beyond doubt that the way their operations were freely shown made the task of the security forces not only exceedingly difficult but also dangerous and risky.

...It is in such extreme cases that the credibility of an institution is tested. The coverage of the Mumbai terror attack by the mainstream electronic media has done much harm to the argument that any regulatory mechanism for the media must only come from within.

On the role of photographers
Their evidence is extraordinary in that they did not only witness the incidents but also made a visual record of the events by taking pictures of the two killers in action and also of their victims. The pictures taken by these two witnesses, without anything else, are sufficient to conclude the issue of identification of Kasab and Abu Ismail (deceased accused no.1) as the killers of CST.

Both of them, caring little for their own safety and displaying exemplary professionalism, followed the killers practically at their heels. Their ocular testimony together with the photographs taken by them provides a graphic picture of the carnage at CST.

On the role of the CST announcer
Here it must also be noted that showing great devotion to duty and remarkable presence of mind Zende saved countless people from death or injury by constantly announcing on the public address system that the railway station was under terrorist assault and by advising passengers alighting from local trains that continued to arrive at the station while the attack was underway to not go towards the main hall but to exit through the rear side of the local lines' platforms.

On how Baby Moshe was saved
It was their exemplary courage, humanity and loyalty to their employers that saved the child Moshe from certain death at the hands of the two terrorists.

Reason for acquittal of the two Indians
The trial court and the High Court have considered the evidences relating to these two accused in far greater detail. Both the courts have analysed the prosecution evidence in regard to the two accused at great length and have given very good reasons to hold the prosecution evidence unworthy of reliance to hold such grave charges against the two accused. We are in full agreement with the reasons assigned by the trial court and the High Court for acquitting the two accused of all the charges. The view taken by the trial court and the High Court is not only correct but on the facts of the case, that is the only possible view.

We find no merit in the appeal and it is, accordingly, dismissed.