MUMBAI: It took less than two minutes for Justice Ranjana Desai to read out the confirmation of the death sentence to Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, terming the case as “rarest of rare” and observing that the 24-year-old was beyond scope of any rehabilitation.
The division bench of Justice Desai and Justice R V More held Kasab guilty on four counts, including waging a war against the nation, killing dozens of passengers at CST and murdering senior police officers like Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar. The bench observed that the court was more than confident that the death penalty should be awarded to Kasab.
Kasab, who attended the trial through video conferencing from his high security cell at Arthur Road jail, was seen grinning even as Justice Desai read out the verdict to him in Hindi. She also informed him that he had the option of appealing in the Supreme Court.
Justice Desai observed that Kasab had never shown any remorse after his arrest nor did he show signs of regret. In fact, Kasab had often shown utter contempt while appearing before the High Court through video conferencing and had, on one occasion, even spat on the camera.
A jubilant special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the courts had seen merit in all the arguments and witnesses that were presented by the prosecution and was convinced of the facts, and confirmed the death penalty given to Kasab.
Kasab’s government-appointed lawyer Farhana Shah said she would recommend that he appeal against the death sentence before the Supreme Court. She had appealed for life imprisonment for him, on the grounds that he was very young.