Mumbai: Ajmal Amir Kasab, sentenced to death in the Mumbai terror attack case, has sought a lawyer to challenge his conviction by a Mumbai Special Sessions Court in the Bombay High Court. Kasab has written a letter to the Free Legal Aid Panel seeking a lawyer to take up his case in the High Court.
Kasab had written a one-page letter in Urdu on May 22, which was forwarded by jail authorities with a covering letter in Marathi on May 28. The matter is under consideration under Bombay High Court acting Chief Justice JN Patel who is also the Executive Chairman of Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority.
Kasab was awarded capital punishment on May 6 by Special Judge ML Tahaliyani on five counts of murder, conspiracy to murder, waging war against the country, abetting murder and indulging in terrorist activities by carrying out the terror strikes in Mumbai in November 2008.
The 22-year-old has also been awarded life imprisonment on five other counts, which included attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and violation of the Explosive Substances Act.
As per the law, the death penalty will have to be confirmed by the Bombay High Court. Kasab also has the right to move the High Court against the trial court verdict.
Even if the High Court upholds the judgment, he can go in appeal to the Supreme Court. If the apex court too upholds the sentence, he has the option of filing a mercy petition before the President of India
While convicting Kasab, the judge ruled that he was guilty of directly killing seven people and a total of 59 with associate Abu Ismail, who was shot dead after running into a police picket at Girgaun Chowpatty early November 27.
His conviction was based on CCTV footage showing him striding across the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus with an AK-47 and a backpack.
Kasab is the only one caught alive out of the 10 Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists from Pakistan and attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008 holding the city to ransom for over 60 hours. The terrorists killed at least 166 people and injured over 200 others.
The Pakistani terrorists targeted sites like the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, the iconic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, the nearby Hotel Oberoi-Trident, the Cama Hospital and the Chabad House, a Jewish prayer centre, and Leopold Café, a hangout popular with Indians and foreigners.
Kasab has already been given a new identity by the Arthur Raod Jail authorities who have labelled him as Qaidi No. C-7096.
The number is allotted to maintain record of convicts and henceforth he would be referred as Qaidi No. C-7096.
Kasab has been placed in category 'C' prisons allotted to murder convicts. Those convicted for lesser offences upto three months imprisonment are allotted category 'A' while the convicts serving jail sentence of three months to five years are put in 'B' class.
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