Deceased cops' kin to get 26/11 lawyer's fee

The Supreme Court has asked the Maharashtra government to disburse Rs14.5 lakh that was awarded as fee for senior lawyer Raju Ramachandran for assisting the court in the appeal filed by Ajmal Kasab, lone convict who was sentenced to death in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Ramachandran told the court that he wouldn’t accept the fee but would prefer if it is deposited with the National Legal Aid Society or Maharashtra Legal Aid Society.

A bench of justice Aftab Alam and justice CK Prasad, which had confirmed Kasab’s capital punishment, appreciated the gesture shown by Ramachandran and his junior Gaurav Agarwal.

The SC asked the state to disburse the amount equally among the kin of the 18 police and security personnel who were killed on November 26, 2008,  in the terror attacks. “We appreciate the high standards of professional ethics shown by Ramachandran and Agarwal,” the SC said.

Maharashtra lawyer Gopal Subramanium, who stressed the death sentence for Kasab, said the gesture by Ramachandran “reflects the highest tradition of the bar.”

This order came on the applications filed by Ramachandran and Agarwal saying they were not inclined to accept the money and wanted it be given to the NLAS or MLAS.

Smita Salaskar, wife of slain encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, said:  "I have got information about the SC's direction to the state government. However, I have not thought about it yet and I would not be in a position to comment on the same."

Kavita Karkare, wife of slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare, said she was not aware of any such SC decision and would have to read in detail about the directions to the state before commenting.