Hanging on 4 counts; terrorist simply buries face in hands
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Mr Tahiliyani, who had convicted the terrorist on May 3 of most of the 86 charges he faced, announced that a terrorist should be punished with death irrespective of whether he is an Indian or a foreigner. “I tried to balance the judgment by weighing the aggravating and the mitigating circumstances. But the balance was totally in favour of the prosecution. This man (Kasab) has lost the right to get humanitarian treatment,” observed the judge. Judge M.L. Tahiliyani also imposed fines ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 10,000. In all, Kasab has to pay Rs 1,55,300 in fines under various sections of the law. If the accused fails to pay, he will have to compensate for it with a modified sentence.
Judge Tahiliyani, who started announcing the judgment at around 12.45 pm, took a little more than two hours to finish pronouncing the operative part of the quantum of punishment. When Kasab was told about the four charges on which he was awarded the death penalty and asked by the court whether he wanted to say anything, he only
shook his head. After the judgment was announced, he buried his face in his hands.
While declaring punishment, the judge made various observations on and references to Supreme Court judgments and criminal jurisprudence to justify the punishment awarded.
Considering the arguments forwarded by both the prosecution and the defence to discuss the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the judge said he could n•t agree with defence advocate K.P. Pawar’s argument that Kasab be given life imprisonment. The court said the argument forwarded by Mr Pawar, stating that the accused was mentally and emotionally disturbed, was rejected as there were no signs of either mental or emotional disturbance.
The possibility of the accused being put in rehabilitation was ruled out as the judge noted that Kasab voluntarily became a “mujahideen” and joined the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
The judge also observed that special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam was right in putting forth the eight charges, the aggravating circumstances of the crime and the punishment due for the same. According to the court, the attack and the act of murder were meticulously planned and full precaution was taken to ensure that the attack was a success. Hence, the argument by the prosecution in this regard was accepted.
Mr Tahiliyani added that Kasab and nine others waged war against India and were determined to fight to the death. Kasab, the court observed, had no remorse or sense of repentance and that this was proved by his confession and the recorded telephone conversation between accused No. 7, terrorist Fahad Ulla, and their handler in Pakistan who instructed all of them to fight to the death.
Not wanting to show undue sympathy, the judge said jurisprudence states that any person who enjoyed an act of breach of law should be given punishment matching the crime and that a lesser punishment would be a mockery of the law. The accused has lost the right to humanitarian treatment and thus is not entitled to any punishment less than death under Section 121 of the Indian Penal Code, the court observed.
He then explained the verdict to Kasab in Hindi. “Keeping Kasab alive would be a lingering danger to society and the Indian government,” judge Tahiliyani said.
Flashing the victory sign, public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said he was happy with the judgment. “I am happy because my effort to bring relief to the families of those killed by terrorists has met with success,” said Mr Nikam, for whom Kasab was the 38th person to be given the death penalty in a case handled by him.
Kasab’s laywer, Mr K.P. Pawar, said he would not criticise the judgment but his client had the right to appeal.
The verdict was met with spontaneous jubilation in Mumbai. Firecrackers were burst in different parts of the city, especially at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus where Kasab and his accomplice Abu Ismail had caused the maximum carnage.
Umesh Mohite
With agency inputs
