People who made the judicial system work in 26/11 terror attacks case

Ujjwal Nikam

Profiles of important lawyers in the death sentence confirmation proceedings of convicted terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

When Ujjwal Nikam, special public prosecutor, enters the courtroom, police officers salute him. “He will win the case for us,” they say. And their trust is not misplaced. With his consistent success in some of the biggest terror cases, Nikam has become one of the most formidable names in Maharashtra’s legal circles.

For a public prosecutor, Nikam holds an enviable record. He’s represented the state in the 1993 serial blasts case in Mumbai and in the murder trial of Pramod Mahajan. He has successfully sought life imprisonment for convicts on 618 occasions and death penalty 33 times. But the 56-year-old Jalgaon native admits the 26/11 Mumbai attack is by far his most challenging case.

Among lawyers, Nikam has a reputation of never having missed a court date. In court, he’s a solo player, minus a battery of lawyers to support him or even a senior legal assistant. He prepares his strategy to lead the evidence by discussing it with police officers and falls back on his vast experience to build his case.

Defence lawyers Amin Solkar and Farhana Shah, who defend Ajmal Kasab, have pleaded to reduce his punishment from death to life imprisonment. The two lawyers were appointed by the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority, to file the appeal of Kasab against the conviction.

Solkar comes from a family of lawyers, a resident of Mazgaon, has been fighting several terror cases including the Indian Mujhaideen accused, July 2006, serial train blast case. Solkar says, “This is an important case and I have to be cautious, because for the first time I am defending a person who almost the entire nation hates and any wrong comment can be misinterpreted.”

Shah who has defended over 80 accused in the 1993 serial bomb blast case and now their appeals in the Supreme court. She was the first lady lawyer who dared to take up the case of the serial train blast accused.

Justice Ranjana Desai

From being the first woman public prosecutor in the Bombay high court to be elevated as judge, for Justice Ranjana Desai, who heads the bench hearing confirmation of death penalty to Kasab, this is clearly a career high.

Justice Desai is the senior-most judge after the Chief Justice. As prosecutor, Justice Desai has the distinction of having single handedly handled preventive detentions matters for the State for nearly a decade. Justice Desai hails from a family of illustrious lawyers. Her father Shyamrao Samant was a renowned criminal lawyer while her maternal uncle, a former city civil court judge who resigned before being confirmed, represented many celebrated cases.

Senior counsel Shirish Gupte who has appeared opposite Justice Desai says she conducted COFEPOSA cases. “I had the opportunity to appear against her before her elevation as judge. She used to do a really great job as prosecutor, always ready with every case,” said Gupte.

Former Bombay high court judge Justice VG Palshikar describes Justice Desai as a successful prosecutor. “However against popular belief that she has good knowledge of criminal law, she is also well-versed in civil law,’’ he said.

An alumnus of Elphinstone College, Justice Desai took her law degree from Government Law College and enrolled as an advocate in July 1973. She was elevated to additional judge in April 1996 and appointed permanent judge of the high court in April 1998. She retires in October on completion of 62 years.

Justice Ranjit More hails from Satara and stood second in the LLB exams in Shivaji University, Kolhapur. He did his LLM from Mumbai University. He enrolled as advocate in September 1983 and joined the chamber of Justice AP Shah, former Chief Justice of the Delhi high court. Justice More has mainly practised on the appellate side of the court and appeared in civil matters including those of municipal councils, cooperative banks and state election commission.