JOIN USProsecution wants death for Kasab
Continuing the final arguments in the keenly-watched case with international ramifications, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said by firing at people indiscriminately, Kasab and his accomplices wanted to destabilise the government and break the political and economic order of the country.
Nikam told the special court that the 21-year-old had deliberately tried to avoid responsibility by first denying his role in the attacks, then pleading guilty and then saying he was pressured into an admission.
“This lying, conniving and depraved murderer has the moral turpitude to play with the honourable court and try to make a mockery of the Indian judicial system,” the lawyer said.
“He has done this deliberately to try to mislead the court,” he added. “He did it because it’s part of his training... but we have produced and adduced such a volume of evidence that all his attempts have been foiled.”
Pack of lies
Nikam said Kasab’s stand at the end of the trial, that he had come to India as a Pakistani tourist and was in police custody on the day of 26/11 strike, was “a pack of lies, false defence and an after-thought.”
He wondered why Kasab had not cross-examined the three police officers who had deposed that they had caught him alive at Girgaum Chowpatty on the night of 26/11 when he was trying to escape in a car along with another terrorist.
“As an after-thought, he has taken this defence at a much later stage, when the court was recording his statement after closing evidence,” the prosecutor said. Kasab’s claim that he was in police custody on 26/11 was also falsified by his photographs placed as evidence, he said.
A cameraman had shot Kasab’s photographs at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and at a nearby foot over-bridge, he said.
He argued that the definition of the offence of waging war against the nation, under Section 121 of the Indian Penal Code, includes persons of all nationalities and said this applies to Kasab also, who had indulged in terror acts.
Nikam said the other two accused, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, who have been charged with preparing maps of 26/11 targets, are also liable to be held guilty of “waging war against India”.
He referred to Kasab’s confession, in which he had said that the 26/11 attackers were asked by conspirators at a training camp in Pakistan to commit terror acts in Mumbai, to “bring pressure on the Indian government to liberate Kashmir.”
The confession, which was later retracted by Kasab, had also mentioned that Mumbai was being targetted because it is the financial hub of India.
“It clearly reflects the aim behind the attack and thus the charge of waging war could be applicable,” Nikam argued.
In this context, Nikam also cited Supreme Court judgements, including the one on the attack on Parliament.
He said the court had upheld the charges of waging war against the nation against the accused.