A case for a decent trial for Kasab

Audio tapes found when the terrorist group Abhinav Bharat was busted in 2008 revealed that the outfit planned to carry out attacks in Bangladesh.  Suppose this had actually happened, and an Abhinav

Bharat terrorist, an Indian Hindu, had been caught killing innocent Bangladeshis. What would Indians have wanted the Bangladesh government to do to this ‘non-state actor?’ Subject him to its regular judicial procedure, appeals etc, with his Indian family very much in the picture? Or, finish him off with a summary trial and a quick hanging? Would we have hailed the latter as ‘speedy justice?’

China is the world’s emerging super power, kowtowed to even by the existing sole super power, the United States. Indians who’ve been to China know that despite the hype equating the two ‘Asian giants”, we trail far behind in many crucial areas. But there’s one field in which we are miles ahead — our judiciary is independent.

China’s conviction rate is said to be 99%. We also have courts with a similar conviction rate — run by the Maoists and the Khap panchayats, in which the accused don’t stand a chance. If we hang Ajmal Kasab, the man we saw striding across CST station with his AK 47, without giving him a fair trial, we will be no different from China or the Khaps or the Maoists and their kangaroo courts.

The question is not whether Kasab is guilty. The world saw him on the crime scene. Surviving victims and photographers identified him. His crime falls within the definition of ‘the rarest of the rare’, so he’s going to the gallows, no matter what.

But can we make an exception to the rule that guides our judicial system — innocent until proven guilty? By doing so even in a case as open and shut as this one, our standing as a country ruled by a Constitution goes down the drain. What do we gain?

The feeling that ‘justice has been done’ is vital to help Kasab’s victims, cope with their tragedy, be they survivors, or the families of the 72 whom he and his partner killed. This feeling hasn’t come even three years after the killings. A sense of hopelessness must overcome them when they are constantly told that there are more than 20 waiting on death row, some for as long as 11 years.

Kasab is not yet on that list because his Supreme Court appeal hasn’t yet been heard. This appeal is the final, and inevitable step for anyone sentenced to death. It cannot be done away with because the power to declare that a person must be killed by the state has to be tempered by superior judges and finally by the state itself. The state cannot turn butcher even with a butcher.

For the appeal to have any meaning, it must be argued by a competent lawyer. The search for a lawyer for Kasab delayed his trial. Advocate Abbas Kazmi, appointed by the court, was ultimately sacked simply for wanting to do his job as professionally as possible. Cross-examination of prosecution witnesses is a defence lawyer’s right; foregoing it amounts to pocketing fees for doing nothing. After Kazmi was sacked, Kasab’s trial became almost a formality. Let not the Supreme Court appeal end up as one.

There is a more fundamental question regarding Kasab’s ultimate fate. We can’t get the evil fanatics who plotted the bloodshed. But we got the illiterate mercenary who carried it out willingly. Should we therefore hang him?

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani feels condemning Kasab to a lifetime in an Indian jail is a worse punishment than hanging him, since jehadis like him are brainwashed into believing that death after jehad is an entry to paradise. Kasab’s interrogation, telecast repeatedly on TV, showed that he got rid of that notion pretty fast — the interrogation took place immediately after he was captured.

Nevertheless, death might be a relief for him. The bulk of the crores spent on him has gone on making his cell invulnerable. His requests during his trial for perfume (to cope with the stench in his sealed cell), for books, for the lights to be put off at night, his gastric problems and near-drugged state towards the end of the trial showed that he is already in hell, far from being the pampered guest of the Indian State that the media makes him out to be.