New Delhi:
Ajmal Kasab can now challenge his death sentence, upheld by the Bombay High Court today, in the Supreme Court. The apex court will again look at all the aspects of previous judgements, evidence, developments and arguments and give its final verdict.
If the Supreme Court upholds the death penalty, Kasab, the lone 26/11 terrorist who was captured alive, can file a mercy petition before the President under Article 72 of the Constitution.
At present, 29 such cases are pending before the President waiting a decision on their clemency petition.
Some of the important names include convict in the Parliament attack case Mohammed Afzal Guru, who is at number 22 in the list of 29 such prisoners.
Accomplices of notorious Veerappan - Simon, Ghanaprakash, Madaih, Bilavendra who are accused of killing 21 policemen - are at number 18, Babbar Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist Devender Pal Singh who was convicted of killing nine persons is at 17, conspirators of Rajiv Gandhi assassination Murugan, Santhan and Arivu of Tamil Nadu are also waiting a decision on their petition at number 13.
Bantu from Uttar Pradesh is the last name in the list.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has already clarified that each case will be decided on the basis of number in the list of such petitioner.
Based on such a premise, Kasab's execution may take years to be decided.
(With PTI inputs)