New Delhi: Prosecution in the 26/11 Mumbai
terror attack involving Mohd Ajmal Amir Kasab on Wednesday told the
Supreme Court that he deserved death penalty as a majority of
the victims belonged to weaker sections of the society.
Former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam and special
public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam submitted it was a
well-designed operation in which the terrorists were asked by
their Pakistani handlers to strike at Chhatrapati Shivaji
Terminal (CST) which is one of the most important crowded
railway stations in Mumbai.
They narrated the sequence of events in the terror
attack at CST by Kasab and another Lashker-e-Taiba militant
which resulted in the killing of 52 persons and injury to 109.
"A number of people belonging to weaker sections had been
killed and injured in the attack on the historic railway
station. The barbaric nature of the attack could be seen from
the number of women and children killed and injured,"
Subramaniam told a bench of justices Aftab Alam and CK Prasad
while seeking endorsement to the death sentence awarded to
24-year-old Kasab.
He also read out the moving testimony of Devika Rotawan
who was 10 years old when she was hit in the leg by a bullet
during the attack.
Further, he submitted that the DNA of the 10 terrorists,
who had participated in the attacks, matched with some of the
blankets, jackets, caps etc. found on the Indian boat, Kuber,
which had been hijacked by the terrorists to reach Buddhawar
Park in Mumbai.
Kasab is the sole convict of the carnage in which 166
people were killed. He has pleaded with the Supreme Court to
commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.
The apex court had stayed Kasab`s death sentence on
October 10 last year.
In the special leave petition (SLP) challenging the
Bombay High Court judgement that confirmed his death sentence,
Kasab had claimed he was brainwashed like a "robot" into
committing the crime in the name of "God" and that he does not
deserve death penalty due to his young age.
Kasab, who is lodged in Arthur Road Prison in Mumbai, had
filed the SLP through the jail authorities.
Kasab, along with nine other Pakistani terrorists, had
landed in south Mumbai on November 26, 2008, night after
travelling from Karachi by sea and had gone on a shooting
spree at various city landmarks.
While Kasab was captured alive, the other terrorists in
his group were killed by security forces during counter-terror
operations. He was sentenced to death by a special anti-terror
court in Mumbai on May 6, 2010.
The Bombay High Court had on February 21 last year upheld
the death sentence for the "brutal and diabolical" attacks
aimed at "destabilising" the government.
Kasab`s death penalty was upheld on charges of criminal
conspiracy, waging war against the nation and various other
provisions of the Indian Penal Code and anti-terror law
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The high court had upheld Kasab`s conviction on 19 counts
under the IPC, the Arms Act, the Explosives Act, the Explosive
Substances Act, the Foreigners Act, the Passport Act and the
Railway Act.
PTI
