Zeenews Bureau
Mumbai: The Special Mumbai Court overseeing the 26/11 trial on Monday terminated the services of Abbas Kazmi as the defence lawyer of the lone surviving gunman Ajmal Kasab citing "non-cooperation."
Special Judge ML Tahaliyani, who is presiding over the trial, removed Kazmi and also ordered that the case would now be handled by his assistant -- lawyer KP Pawar, also a state appointee in the most high-profile legal trial in the country.
"Kazmi is not cooperating with the court in the interest of justice. He is trying to drag the trial and is unnecessarily consuming the time of the court," the judge observed.
"It appears that Kazmi has developed a feeling that he has become indispensable and without him the trial cannot go on. He has developed a feeling that the court is helpless
without him," the judge said angrily, adding "this gives out a wrong signal to everyone and it is high time that either Kazmi withdraws from the case himself or the court terminates his appointment."
Meanwhile, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam has also expressed suprise at the sudden removal of advocate Kazmi at this juncture.
According to reports, the Special 26/11 Court was dissatisfied with the conduct of Kazmi and his apparent lack of cooperation in the highly sensitive case.
Just days ahead of terminating Kazmi’s service, the Special Court had pulled him up and even questioned his commitment to the case.
The development has come as a major setback to the ongoing trial in the 26/11 case since all proceedings will be virtually come to a halt for a month a two till a new lawyer is appointment by the Special Court.
Terminating Kazmi at this juncture will surely slowdown the 26/11 trial as appointing a new lawyer to represent Kasab will take time.
Kazmi’s removal is also likely to complicate things for the judiciary since he was involved with the case ever since the trial started.
Kazmi had so far cross-examined all the key witnesses and was fully aware of the pros and cons of the case.
The new lawyer to be appointed by the Special Court will now have to rebuild his defence and may be required to cross check facts consuming a lot of time.
The Special Court was reportedly unhappy with Kazmi, who recently tendered unconditional apology to the court for his remarks that he was ‘least bothered about affidavits of witnesses filed by the prosecution.’
The issue cropped up after Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam expressed his intention to seek the court's permission to examine 340 more formal witnesses in the terror attacks trial.
These would be in addition to the 271 witnesses already examined so far in person by Nikam in the past nearly eight months during the trial.
Upon Nikam's submission, Kazmi got up and said he was not informed of this development. Accepting his contention, Tahaliyani termed Kazmi's denial as "a crystal clear lie" and said that all this had happened in the open court in the presence of the defence lawyer.
However, Kazmi offered an unconditional apology to the court and assured that all proceedings in the trial will run smoothly.
First Published: Monday, November 30, 2009, 23:43