In Kasab trial, our judiciary more than proved its mettle; the ball is now in the executive’s court
There are two ways of looking atthe Supreme Court decision upholding the death penalty for Pakistani terroristAjmal Kasab. Looking behind, we must be proud of our judiciary which gave athoroughly fair trial to a man whose culpability was beyond doubt. Lookingforward, it’s time to discuss what is coming up next: death penalty.
First, the judiciary. When Kasabwas captured – after all nine of his accomplices were killed in the shootoutsduring the Mumbai terrorist attacks – there was a clamour for shooting him onthe spot. After all, the whole world had seen his crime: he had slaughteredpeople like sheep. There was no doubt about his crime and his identity. So whygo through the whole rigmarole of proving that this man committed that crime?Most people shocked by the bloodbath on their TV screens thought so back then.That was also the message coming from TV debates.
And yet we have gone through thecharade, if charade it was. Kasab was given all the help to fight his case. Hegot not only lawyers, but the best of the lot, for example, Raju Ramachandranwho represented him before the apex court. No step in the process was leftundone. The trial court found him guilty and sentenced him to death in May2010. But the matter was not over with that. The case went to the Bombay High Court,which upheld the punishment. Then the apex court, which too said he deserved nothingless than the gallows.
What this has shown, to the worldcommunity as much as to ourselves, is that the Indian judiciary stands onstrong foundations. It has shown that our judiciary is ruled by principles andprocesses alone.
The judiciary has done its role.Now it is up to the executive to prove itself.
There are more than 300 convicts onthe death row. Kasab now becomes 301st. Going by the logic of fairtrial, he has one last step in the process pending: clemency appeal to thepresident. That is where the fair judiciary ends and unfair politics begins. Itwill not do justice to the fair trial if Kasab were to become just another nameon the long list, to be forgotten for a decade or more. An exception needs tobe made in this case and he should be hanged without delay.
When the trial court and the High Courtsentenced Kasab to death, a fresh debate was started on death penalty. Asection of the intelligentsia argued that the terrorist from Pakistan would bea fit case for clemency. Letting him rot in jail for the rest of his liferather than killing him would deliver the right message to his masters andtheir medieval ideology of violence, it has been argued.
This debate will reopen in the daysto come. Yes, India needs to review capital punishment and it needs to beremoved from the statute book itself. However, as long as it exists on thestatute book, it would be doing too much of a good thing to make an exceptionin the case of a man who, thanks to 24x7 TV, remains the evil incarnate formost of us.
