NEW DELHI: Eighteen months after the Mumbai High Court handed out the death sentence to 24-year-old Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab for the November 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed the sentence.
Kasab is the only survivor among the 10 terrorists who carried out the bloody 26/11 attacks in Mumbai that left 166 dead and hundreds other traumatised.
The Mumbai High Court had upheld the death penalty to Kasab on February 11, 2011 for the terror attacks.
Kasab, who hails from Faridkot in Punjab province of Pakistan, has been confined to jail since his arrest on November 26, 2008, when he was caught alive at Girgaum Chowpatty in South Mumbai.
Nine others, who had come with Kasab, from Karachi in Pakistan by sea route, were gunned down by security forces at terror sites -- Hotels Taj Mahal and Oberoi-Trident and a Jewish guest house Nariman House in South Mumbai.
Hang Kasab chorus gets louder
as leaders welcome SC verdict
During arguments, Kasab had pleaded that his trial had been 'unfair'. He argued that material evidence was suppressed and norms were not followed to defend him.Kasab's defence was one of total denial. He contested the prosecution's stand that he had landed with nine others in a dingy at Badhwar Park on the day of terror attack.
Kasab claimed that he come from Pakistan much before the terror attacks and was arrested at Juhu beach and that he was in custody when the terror attacks took place.
The judges, however, rejected his plea.
BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "Kasab should be hanged without delay...enough of biryani for him."
The Supreme Court verdict that upheld the death sentence for Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of a group of militants who attacked Mumbai in 2008 killing 166 people, was welcomed by political parties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) setting the tone saying enough of 'biryani for him'.
Demanding that Kasab should be hanged without delay, BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "Kasab should be hanged without delay...enough of biryani for him."
Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil too demanded that the sentence should be implemented as soon as possible.
"I welcome the apex court verdict and will ask the Centre to ensure that it is implemented as soon as possible," Patil was quoted saying by PTI.
"No leniency should be shown against this kind of a terrorist. They have tried to destroy the peace of the nation, so he should be hanged as soon as possible," he added.
Congress too joined the bandwagon with Digvijay Singh saying, "Now, he (Kasab) should be given complete sentence quickly. Punishment should be executed quickly."
Taking a jibe at Pakistan, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said: "The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in India. When it announces something, it becomes the law of the land. Other things will follow."
"I am sure Pakistan will not fail to take note of what has happened in the Supreme Court of India," he said.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid said the verdict was inevitable and the court had reached the obvious conclusion. He said the case had gone through the due process of law.
"Nobody can raise a finger at Indian legal system. (Kasab) was given chance to defend. Many would not have liked this kind of timeline but at the end of the day (it will) give self-assurance that justice is finally being done," Khurshid told Times Now news channel.
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the Supreme Court has given an important verdict and has upheld death sentence to Kasab. "(Attack on Mumbai) was attack on India. We welcome the verdict," he said.
However, he said the country was also remembering the judgment in parliament attack case. Without naming Afzal Guru, who was given death sentence by the Supreme Court in 2001 parliament attack case, Javadekar said the court judgment has not been implemented so far.
"It is unfortunate that till today (Afzal Guru's) sentence has not been implemented. If we want to fight terrorism properly, there should be a quick decision," Javadekar said.
The Supreme Court on today upheld the death sentence for Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of a group of militants who attacked Mumbai in 2008 killing 166 people.
"The Supreme Court has today dismissed the appeal of Mohammad Kasab," Gopal Subramaniam, a lawyer for the prosecution, told reporters after the verdict.
Kasab, one of the 10 Pakistanis who sneaked into Mumbai on the night of Nov 26, 2008 for a terror siege of the city that ended on Nov 29 afternoon, had moved the apex court challenging the death sentence by a trial court, which was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.
He was filmed walking through Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus carrying an AK-47 and a knapsack on his back during an attack in which nearly 60 people were gunned down.
The court also upheld the acquittal of Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed who were accused of providing topographical inputs to Kasab and his accomplices prior to the 26/11 attacks.
The Maharashtra government had challenged the acquittal of Fahim and Sabauddin by the Bombay High Court.
The Bombay High Court had upheld Kasab's death penalty Feb 21, 2011.
Kasab was sent to the gallows by a Mumbai trial court May 6, 2010. Besides other charges, he was convicted for waging war against the nation. (Agencies)
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