Click to play videoAfter his unexpected confession to involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks in November, 2008, the lone terrorist captured alive after the carnage, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab - one of the key 26/11 accused - made a startling statement in court.
On Tuesday, he said he had orders from Pakistan to fire indiscriminately at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
The prosecution says he is a good actor and the defence says his utterances cannot be seen as a confession. But many feel his admission to guilt is reason enough for the trial to be brought to an end. CNN-IBN debated the legalities and repercussions of such a move on Face the Nation with a panel comprising lawyers and politicians.
On the panel of experts to debate the issue were lawyers Satish Manashinde and Siddharth Aggarwal and MPs Sanjay Nirupam (Congress) and Bharat Kumar Raut (Shiv Sena ).
Kasab’s case is somewhat of a first in the history of criminal jurisprudence where the accused - who pleaded not guilty at the beginning of the trial - has confessed to his guilt as the trial proceeded.
But Manashinde said there was no need to end the trial now for it was not just a Kasab-centric trial and was required to be carried on to prove a wider conspiracy in the case.
“There are a large number of people who are not arrested and bought before the court. It is likely that it may happen some time soon. Hence there’s no need to close the trial. The last time in a case where the crime was punishable with life imprisonment leading to capital punishment, the Bombay High Court held that the judge should record all the evidence before coming to a determination, even if a person pleads guilty. He can place all that before the higher court,” he said.
OPEN AND SHUT CASE
Bharat Kumar Raut of Shiv Sena vociferously disagreed with Manashinde and said it was not necessary to continue the trial. “Once Kasab has confessed in a court of law, there’s no reason for the trial to proceed. The judgement should be delivered on Kasab. In 1993 Mumbai blasts case, some of the accused are still at large. Still the court went ahead and delivered the verdict. Our stand is vindicated, why this drama of trial now?” he asked.
Siddharth Aggarwal gave another perspective. He said Kasab’s statements are actually exculpatory in nature. “He has also said he did not kill the 50-odd people that prosecution claimed he did. So if the judge were to go by his statement made yesterday and go on to prosecute him, it will not account for the 50 murders that prosecution claims,” he said.
“Even if I were to accept Kasab’s statement as correct and convict him, the trial will still have to continue for whatever is unaccounted for,” he said.
But the fear is that he could - even through the process of judiciary - get a lesser sentence and will meet the same fate as Afzal Guru’s case, getting lost in mercy petitions.
But Aggarwal did not agree. “As far as we are concerned, we are facing an isolated case. A person has midway through the trial accepted his guilt and what should the system’s response be to that. What are the options before the judge,” he said.
Elections are coming up in Maharashtra in October. Could this become an election issue should the trial go on for too long? The Opposition could hold this against the ruling Congress government and call it weak on terror. Sanjay Nirupam said the issue was not political at all. “For us, it was an attack on Mumbai. Everything is subjudice. The court has to decide. We can’t say anything,” he said.
Raut insisted Kasab should be convicted since he had admitted to his guilt. But Nirupam said the system of judiciary must be respected. This triggered a debate between the two and Raut raised the issue of Parliament attack where Afzal Guru had still not been hanged.
WILL KASAB GET AWAY EASY?
So is there any chance of Kasab get off with a lighter sentence. Manashinde made it clear that Kasab’s was a statement and not a confession and a conviction on the basis of it may not be possible. “Even if a confession is recorded, there’s a provision to give him 48 hours of reflection which hasn’t happened yet,” he said.
Aggarwal explained that in the Indian rule of law, the graver the offence one is being charged with, higher is the duty of the court to satisfy itself that it will not hand out a severe penalty only on a statement made by an accused. Because the case can later become a mistrial in a higher court should the accuse revert his stand.
But Raut still did not agree and said the Government did not have “the guts” to prosecute Kasab. “What is a trial when the accused has pleaded guilty,” he said.
The debate became a political one with Nirupam refusing to accept Raut’s allegation. “As far as trial is concerned, there should be a logical conclusion to it. Kasab has to be hanged but when is what we can’t answer. This is not a political issue. The government can decide if it wants to accept the mercy petition and Congress has never done it. So why create a ruckus?” he insisted.
Raut sought an assurance that Kasab will be hanged once the sentence is announced. Nirupam said yes. To which Raut questioned as to why Afzal Guru was not hanged. Nirupam, clearly at a loss of words, said “you people are getting desperate”.
Aggarwal clarified that one must be cognizant of a judicial system being in place and warned against being presumptious with mercy petitions and the likes specially when the judge was yet to take a view.
He said 133 witnesses had been examined and only 13 were left and they should be examined before ending the trial. So this has been one of the quickest trials in Indian history, he explained. Manashinde agreed with him and said presentation of evidence was very important since CBI, FBI etc had helped.
However, at the end of the show, the audience did not seem to agree with the lawyers. This is what the SMS poll results reflected.
Kasab’s confessions: Should 26/11 trial be brought to a close?
Yes: 62 per cent
No: 38 per cent
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
