Kasab and the Death Pentaly : The SC Verdict.

Kasab was born in Faridkot, Pakistan to a family belonging to the Qassab community. He left his home in 2005, engaging in petty crime and armed robbery with a friend. In late 2007, he and his friend encountered members of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, the political wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba, distributing pamphlets, and were persuaded to join.

On 3 May 2010, Kasab was found guilty of 80 offences, including murder, waging war against India, possessing explosives, and other charges. On 6 May 2010, the same trial court sentenced him to death on four counts and to a life sentence on five counts. Kasab's death sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court on 21 February 2011. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of India on 29 August 2012.  Kasab was hanged on 21 November 2012 at 7:30 a.m. and buried at Yerwada Jail in Pune. 

The Supreme Court on Wednesday 29th August 2012 rejected the plea of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case and upheld the death penalty. 

Kasab was convicted of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation, Section 302 of IPC (murder) and terror related provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The HC had agreed with the trial court that the case against Kasab fell in the rarest of rare category and upheld the decision to award death penalty to him.

The trial court had also found Kasab guilty on 19 counts under IPC, Arms Act, Explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act, Foreigners Act, Passport Act and Railway Act. Kasab and his nine fellow Jihadis had attacked CST railway station, Cama Hospital, Chawpaty junction, Oberoi Hotel, Taj Hotel, Nariman House and Leopold Cafe, resulting in killing of 166 people and injuring 238 others. 

While Kasab was captured alive, the other terrorists in his group were killed by security forces during the counter-terror operations. 

The Bombay high court had upheld the trial court's verdict to award death sentence to Kasab, the lone surviving gunman who was part of the 10-member team that attacked Mumbai on the night of 26th November 2008.

A bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C K Prasad dismissed the plea of 25-year-old Kasab challenging his conviction and death sentence confirmed by the Bombay high court.

The bench rejected his contention that he was not given a free and fair trial in the case. The bench also observed that the failure of government to provide him an advocate at the pre-trial stage did not vitiate trial court proceedings against him.

Kasab was convicted of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation, Section 302 of IPC (murder) and terror related provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The HC had agreed with the trial court that the case against Kasab fell in the rarest of rare category and upheld the decision to award death penalty to the Pakistani terrorist.

Ammunition, a satellite phone and a layout plan of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was recovered from Kasab. He described how his team arrived at Mumbai from Karachi via Porbandar. He said that they had received revolvers, AK-47s, ammunition and dried fruit from their coordinator. Kasab told the police that they wanted to replicate the Marriott hotel attack in Islamabad, and reduce the Taj Hotel to rubble, replicating the  11 September attacks in US. Kasab told police that his team targeted Nariman House, where the Chabad center was located, because it was frequented by Israelis, who were targeted to "avenge atrocities on Palestinians. In a press conference, the Mumbai city police commissioner said "The person we have caught alive is certainly a Pakistani. They were all trained by ex-army officers, some for a year, some for more than a year". On 23 November 2008 they set sail from Karachi unarmed to be picked up by a larger vessel. They hijacked the Indian fishing trawler Kuber and set sail for Mumbai. 

TRIAL OF KASAB

His conviction was based on CCTV footage showing him striding across the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus with an AK-47 and a backpack. Towards the end of December 2008, Ujjwal Nikam was appointed as Public Prosecutor for trying Kasab and in January 2009 M. L. Tahiliyani was appointed the judge for the case. Indian investigators filed an 11,000 page Chargesheet against Kasab on 25 February 2009. Due to the fact that the chargesheet was written in Marathi and English, Kasab requested an Urdu translation of the charge sheet. He was charged with murder, conspiracy and waging war against India along with other crimes. His trial was originally scheduled to start on 15 April 2009 but was postponed as his lawyer, Anjali Waghmare was dismissed for a conflict of interest. It resumed on 17 April 2009 after Abbas Kazmi was assigned as his new defence counsel. 

On 20 April 2009, the prosecution submitted a list of charges against him, including the murder of 166 people. On 6 May 2009, Kasab pleaded not guilty to 86 charges. The same month he was identified by eyewitnesses who testified witnessing his actual arrival and him firing at the victims. Later the doctors who treated him also identified him. On 2 June 2009, Kasab told the judge he also understood the Marathi language. 

In June 2009, the special court issued non-bailable warrants against 22 absconding accused including Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafeez Saeed and chief of operations of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Zaki-ur-Rehman Laqvi. On 20 July 2009 Kasab retracted his non-guilty plea and pleaded guilty to all charges. On 18 December 2009, he retracted his guilty plea and claimed that he was framed and his confession was obtained by torture. Instead he claimed to have come to Mumbai 20 days before the attacks and was simply strolling at Juhu beach when police arrested him. The trial concluded on 31 March 2010 and on 3 May the verdict was pronounced — Kasab was found guilty of murder, conspiracy, and of waging war against India (which also carried the death penalty). On 6 May 2010, he was sentenced to death. 

A Bombay High Court bench, composed of Justice Ranjanaa Desai and Justice Ranjit More, heard Kasab's appeal against the death penalty and upheld the sentence given by the trial court in their verdict on 21 February 2011. On 30 July 2011, Kasab moved to Supreme Court of India, challenging his conviction and sentence in the case.  Thus, a bench composed of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Chandramouli Kr. Prasad stayed the orders of the Bombay High Court so as to follow the due process of law, and started hearing the case.

On 29 August 2012, Kasab was found guilty of waging war and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India. 

Kasab's plea for clemency was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on 5 November 2012. On 7 November, Minister of Home Affairs Sushilkumar Shinde confirmed the President's rejection of the petition. The following day, the Maharashtra state government was formally notified and requested to take action. The date of 21 November was then fixed for the execution, and the Indian government faxed their decision to the Pakistani Foreign Office. He was hanged on 21 November 2012 at 7:30, according to an announcement by Home Minister Shinde. Kasab's execution by the Maharashtra government happened barely two weeks after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy petition on November 5 2012."