May 3: Union home minister P. Chidambaram, when asked if Ajmal Kasab’s case would meet the same fate as Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, whose mercy petition against death sentence is pending,
said he was surprised why the media, like the Opposition, was obsessed with the issue. “We will take up each case according to the order in which the case is pending before the ministry of home affairs and before the President of India. So the cases will be taken up one by one,” he said.
The home minister said his ministry already has sent four cases after reconsideration. “Please remember that all these cases have been sent to President once. After reconsideration, we have sent four cases to President. We will continue to send one case to the President. No one can speak what the President will do. I think we should respect the office of the President,” he said.
The Congress, BJP and CPI(M) welcomed the verdict in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case. The ruling party said the fair trial given to lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab showed that India was a true democracy.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that an appeal should be filed against the other two suspects who have been acquitted.
“Eighteen police personnel were killed in the Mumbai terror attacks. The court has found Ajmal Kasab guilty but two other accused have been acquitted. The state government should appeal against them,” BJP deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde said. The Mumbai court acquitted Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, both accused of helping Lashkar-e-Tayyba in carrying out the terror plot.
Law minister M. Veerappa Moily said Kasab’s conviction is a victory of the judiciary.
To a question on whether trials pertaining to terror activities should be fast-tracked, the minister said there are no short-cuts and procedures have to be followed during the trials.