Now, Hang Kasab, Fast

An year ago, I had argued that India must try Kasab fairly not for the sake this case alone, but to allow its judicial supremacy to prevail and to re-establish its credibility as a just and fair society.

In a fast-paced trial which concluded on May 6, 2010, India has done just that – it ensured that lone survivor of the November 26, 2009 terrorist attack on Mumbai – Ajmal Amir Kasab – was given a fair trial, ensured he understood the process and proceedings, all his rights were as an under-trial were honoured and yet reached a judgment without the usual inordinate delays.
M L Tahaliyani, judge presiding over the special anti-terror court gave pronounced capital punishment for 22-year-old Kasab on five counts of murder, conspiracy to murder, waging war against India, abetting murder and committing terrorist activities under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, saying that a lesser sentence for a terrorist like Kasab will be a lingering danger to the Indian society and government.

The country now faces another challenge – delay not in justice but in carrying out the dreaded death sentence. Strangely, the death sentence does not divide Indian society as much as Western societies – death, especially in cases of heinous crimes, finds large public approval.
Despite the media orchestrations, public approvals and demands for getting “tough against terror”, the Indian government has wavered and dithered on actually implementing the death sentence. The last death sentence implemented in India was in August 2004; that of rapist and murderer Dhannanjoy Chatterjee, after a 14-year-old legal battle, including several mercy petitions and judicial reviews.

Currently, there are 29 mercy petitions pending with the President, including the most controversial and media-covered petition for Afzal Guru, sentenced to death and upheld by the Supreme Court for his links to the attack on Indian Parliament. The petition was so strongly debated that previous President APJ Abdul Kalam “slept” on the case till he retired.

The present President of India, Ms Pratibha Patil, too has ensured that she does nothing about the petition, despite the government coming into attack from right-of-center political forces and right-wing media, for “being soft on terror and unable to hang a terrorist”.
Another famous mercy petition in for the LTTE terrorists who were part of the conspiracy to assassinate former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Worse, after a recent visit by Priyanka Gandhi to the prison, where she met Nalini Sriharan, one of those sentenced to death, petitions were filed to release her. Nalini, whose sentence was suspended to life imprisonment after a clemency plea was filed, ironically, by Rajiv Gandhi’s widow Sonia Gandhi, continues to be on life imprisonment after the State government turned down such pleas.

Kasab can now appeal against the sentence to the Supreme Court, and if the highest court upholds his death sentence, can appeal for mercy, first to the Governor of Maharashtra, and finally, the President of India.

India must continue to ensure Kasab gets his fullest rights during every single part of this process, but must exercise a will and determination to quickly and rightfully hang Kasab, if the Supreme Court upholds the sentence.
The Governor and President must reject the mercy petition immediately and not let the Kasab trial, which has been conducted exceptionally well, turn a farce and delay the rightful expression of justice in this “rarest of rare cases.”

It is not sufficient to have a fast-paced anti-terror court or pass touch laws against terror. India must respect the cops who fought on the terrorized streets of Mumbai, several of them sacrificing their lives to nab Kasab alive and the brave judge, who honourably conducted a free and fair trial and delivered his sentence. India must now stand up to hang Kasab without a delay, as its first act of resolution to fight terrorism.