Mumbai: Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab's death sentence will come up before Bombay High Court next week for confirmation even as the Maharashtra government has geared up its legal team to file an appeal against the acquittal of two others in the 26/11 attacks case before the stipulated deadline of August 4.
The trial court has already forwarded its judgment to the Bombay High Court for confirmation of the death penalty to Kasab, who teamed up with nine other Pakistani terrorists to kill 166 people at multiple locations in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
According to High Court sources, the matter of confirmation of Kasab's death sentence is expected to be heard this week while the prosecutor's office is yet to receive from the home department a draft of appeal against acquittal of Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, acquitted of the charge of conspiracy.
The State has appointed Ujjwal Nikam as the special counsel to argue on confirmation of death sentence to Kasab and also to give submissions on appeal against the trial court's order acquitting Ansari and Ahmed.
Nikam was also the prosecutor in the trial court and he would be involved in drafting the appeal in this case, sources said.
The trial court had acquitted Faheem and Sabauddin giving them the benefit of doubt.
The 90-day deadline to file an appeal in this case expires on August 4 and, in all probability, the government would file an appeal before this period, the sources said.
So far, Kasab has not filed an appeal against the death sentence but he had earlier written a letter to the High Court to appoint lawyers to defend him.
Accordingly, the High Court referred the matter to the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority, which appointed two well-known criminal lawyers Amin Solkar and Farhana Shah to represent him.
The two lawyers are studying the 1,500-page judgment and may file an appeal in a few days.
The confirmation of death sentence, along with appeals filed by Kasab and the state, would be heard simultaneously by the High Court.
The trial court while delivering its judgment on May 6 had justified death penalty to Kasab, saying that he had committed a heinous crime and that he should be sent to
gallows instead of serving life term in jail to avoid recurrence of incidents like hijack of aircraft to Khandhar in exchange for release of terrorists in jail.
Kasab is now lodged in a special cell at Arthur Road jail, which is bullet and bomb proof. He is heavily guarded and is segregated from other prisoners.
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