MUMBAI: Ten-year-old Devika Rotawan, who was injured at the Chhartrapati Shivaji Terminus last November, deposed before designated court Judge M L Tahiliyani on Wednesday and identified Mohammed Ajmal Kasab as the man who fired at her. Her father Natwarlal Rotawan, an assistant police inspector, who was also injured, also identified Kasab and became hysterical while pleading that the accused be hanged Emotional scenes were witnessed in the courtroom when Devika went to the witness box on crutches with confidence and poise and told the court that she would prefer to depose in Hindi.
Devika was among the three witnesses to depose on Wednesday.
When she was asked by the court if she could identify the gunmen among the three accused present, she pointed towards Kasab. She denied that she had identified Kasab because the police had asked her to do so. Kasab did not react.
When Special Public Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam asked Natwarlal Rotawan if he could identify the terrorist, he said, pointing at Kasab, “This is the fellow who fired at us and injured my daughter and many others. He should be hanged.” He said, “We cannot expect people like Kasab, who have no compassion even for their parents, to understand the pain of those who were killed.” Devika was with her father Natwarlal Rotawan, who belongs to Sumerpur in Rajasthan, and other family members at the CST around 10 pm on November 26 to catch a train for Pune which was to leave at 10.50 pm. About half and hour later she heard a loud noise and saw two armed men firing indiscriminately at passengers, she said.
When the firing started Natwarlal and her brother Jayesh tried to run away but a bullet pierced her right leg and she fell down.
Defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi, representing the lone captured terrorist, objected and said Devika was a minor and her statement should not be counted.
He chose not to cross-examine the girl and the special judge asked her some questions.
The judge said that though she was a minor she had understood what it meant to be a witness and even asked her some questions like what it meant to take oath. She replied that it meant not to swear and lie in front of god.