Ajmal Kasab
The Supreme Court reaffirmed the death sentence upheld by the Bombay High Court in February 2011 against Ajmal Amir Kasab, one of the gunmen in the 26/11 Mumbai terrorism attack that killed 166.
The bench of justices Aftab Alam and CK Prasasd said: “Ajmal Kasab's act is very much an act of waging a war against India. We are left with no option but to uphold the death sentence of Kasab.” Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran argued as amicus curiae on behalf of Kasab, contending that he was not given a fair trial, was not part of a larger conspiracy of waging war against India that the prosecution failed to prove their case beyond doubt, and that his right to self-incrimination and adequate representation had been violated at trial. [Firstpost / IBNLive]
Before the death sentence will be carried out, Kasab now has the option of filing a mercy petition before the President of India, who would first have to dispose of 20 other mercy petitions with one dating back to 2001, before dealing with Kasab’s [Rediff]
The Bombay High Court has upheld the trial court’s verdict imposing a death sentence on 26/11 convicted terrorist Ajmal Kasab, with an appeal before the Supreme Court and a plea for the President’s clemency now emerging as possible options to save him from execution.