NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment on Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Kasab’s petition challenging his conviction and death sentence in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
A Bench comprising Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C K Prasad reserved the judgment after hearing the arguments for close to three months.
The contention of Kasab was that he was not provided a free and fair trial, and that he was not part of any larger conspiracy for waging war against the nation.
He further contended that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against him beyond reasonable doubt.
On his appeal challenging the Bombay High Court order, which had upheld the trial court’s order, the apex court had appointed senior advocate Raju Ramachandran as amicus curiae in the case to make submissions on behalf of Kasab.
Former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam and Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam contended that the attacks were carried out with a calculated design aimed at causing communal tension in the country by projecting that it was the handiwork of Indian Muslims. The death sentence of Kasab was stayed by the apex court on October 10, last year. Kasab further averred that he was brainwashed for carrying out the attacks ‘in the name of God’ and pleaded that he does not deserve the death sentence because of his young age.
It was on February 21, 2011, that the Bombay High Court had upheld the trial court order imposing death sentence on Kasab for the attacks.
The High Court had upheld the conviction of Kasab on 19 counts under the IPC, the Arms Act, the Explosives Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the Foreigners Act and the Passport Act.