Ajmal Kasab does not deserve death, says amicus Raju Ramachandran

NEW DELHI: Ajmal Kasab does not deserve death penalty in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, argued senior advocate and amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran and listed five grounds before the Supreme Court while requesting imposition of life term on the lone surviving gunman involved in the 2008 attack.

Before completing his arguments on behalf of Kasab before a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, the amicus curiae stressed that the accused did not get a fair trial. Ramachandran also said Kasab did not get proper legal assistance during the trial leading to violation of fundamental right guaranteed under Article 22.
He also doubted the veracity of Kasab’s confessional statement, saying it appeared to be a forcibly extracted confession. Ramachandran said Kasab was only a pawn in the entire operation where the masterminds had not been brought to book and hence it was doubtful whether charges of waging war could be fastened against him.

With the amicus completing the arguments, the Maharashtra government through senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam and public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam will commence arguments on Wednesday. Both will defend the imposition of death penalty and detail the crucial evidence linking Kasab to the terror conspiracy.

The apex court had on October 10 last year stayed the death sentence of 24-year-old Kasab, the lone surviving gunman involved in the 2008 attack. In his appeal against the Bombay high court judgment, Kasab had claimed he was brainwashed like a ‘robot’ into committing the heinous crime in the name of ‘God’ and that he did not deserve capital punishment because of his young age.