22.2.11

Bombay HC confirms death sentence for Kasab


Aapko dee huyi sazaa-e-maut barkarar rakhi jaati hai (We have upheld your death sentence). With these words, the Bombay high court confirmed on Monday the death sentence awarded last May to gunman Ajmal Amir Kasab for his grotesque and diabolical role in the 26/11 terror attacks. An apparently unfazed, unkempt Kasab was seen grinning through most of the hearing, during which the judges took about 15 minutes to read the highlights of a 1,208-page judgment. The court held Kasab, 23, individually responsible for seven murders and together with his accomplice Abu Ismail responsible for 66 other killings on the night of November 26, 2008 when they went on the rampage from CST to Cama Hospital and Metro Junction to Chowpatty. He was also held guilty for abetting and conspiracy in the murders of the remaining 166 victims of the attacks who died at the Taj, Oberoi and Trident and Nariman House. However, in a continued setback to the state government, the Bombay high court upheld the acquittal of the two Indian co-accused, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed Shaikh. The court said there was no conclusive corroborative evidence. The duo had been charged with facilitating the attack by furnishing a hand-drawn map of prominent targets in Mumbai to the gunmen at the behest of LeT. In an interesting development, the division bench differed with the trial court by accepting the police case that Malabar Hill was indeed the final destination of the terrorists. (The confession statement) will show that these terrorists were proceeding via Chowpatty towards Malabar Hill, which was their final target, said the judges. Last year, the trial court had ruled out the possibility that Kasab and Ismail were proceeding to the upmarket Malabar Hill, where many VIPs stay, when Kasab was nabbed and Ismail was gunned down at Chowpatty. Kasab may have little to worry for a while. It could take years for a death sentence to be executed, even if Kasab moves the supreme court and it upholds the verdict. He can then file a mercy plea with the President. Giving Ansari and Shaikh the benefit of doubt, the HC ensured that it was a mixed bag for the state.

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