New Delhi, August 29: Nearly four years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on Ajmal Kasab’s plea against death sentence awarded to him. Kasab, the only terrorist caught alive during the 2008 terror attacks, has sought commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment.
25-year-old Kasab was sentenced to death by a Mumbai anto-terror court on May 6, 2010; the order was later upheld by the Bombay High Court on October 10, 2011.
Kasab's death penalty was upheld on charges of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation and various other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law -- Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The High Court had upheld Kasab's conviction on 19 counts under the IPC, Arms Act, Explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act, the Foreigners Act, the Passport Act and the Railway Act.
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who has been appointed as amicus curiae by the apex court to defend Kasab, told a bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam that the Pakistani terrorist was not a part of the larger conspiracy for waging war against the nation.
The amicus curiae stressed on Kasab's age as an important factor to commute his sentence and pleaded for a lenient approach as he was drawn into this by exploitation of religious faith and false ideology.
"The choice before the Supreme Court is life (imprisonment) and irreversible death penalty. It would not be prudent to affirm the extreme penalty," he said.
"Even if I am guilty under section 302 (punishment for murder) of the IPC and other provisions, it cannot be said that I was a part of the larger conspiracy of waging war," he submitted on behalf of Kasab.
However, government’s counsel Gopal Subramanium argued in favour of death sentence to Ajmal Kasab as he was a part of a conspiracy to wage war against India.
Kasab has been lodged in a high-security cell costing Rs 5 crore inside Arthur Road prison in Mumbai. He is provided security cover by the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) – costing the state government Rs 19 crores.
Kasab, along with nine other Pakistani terrorists, had landed at Budhwar Park in south Mumbai on November 26, 2008, night after travelling from Karachi by sea and had gone on a shooting spree at various city landmarks, leaving 166 people dead and many more wounded.
While Kasab was captured, the other terrorists in the group were killed by police in counter-terror operations.
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