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Death for Kasab: Govt guided by SC’s ‘rarest of rare’ stand-Dhananjay Mahapatra
-The Economic Times

The government did not waste much time in recommending to the President that Ajmal Kasab's clemency plea be rejected as the Supreme Court had said three months ago that if death sentence was to be imposed only in "one in a million case" , then this was the one which deserved capital punishment.

The court, upholding the decision of the trial court which was affirmed by the Bombay high court, had said that there was no escaping the conclusion that Kasab deserved death penalty alone for the cold blooded killing of scores of innocent persons just because they were Indians.

It said even if one took a narrow view of the "rarest of rare category" classification for award of capital punishment, this was the case where it should be imposed on the convict as it was the "very rarest of rare case to come before the Supreme Court since the birth of the Republic (on January 26, 1950)".

"Now, as long as the death penalty remains on the statute book as punishment for certain offences , including waging war and murder, it logically follows that there must be some cases, howsoever rare or one in a million, that would call for inflicting that penalty. That being the position, we fail to see what case would attract the death penalty, if not the case of the appellant (Kasab)," said a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Chandramauli K Prasad , which rejected Kasab's appeal on August 29.

The bench's conclusion — "to hold back the death penalty in this case would amount to obdurately declaring that this court rejects death as lawful penalty even though it is on the statute book and held valid by constitutional benches of this court" - sealed Kasab's fate, requiring no substantial discussion on the merits of his clemency plea, official sources said.

They said the Supreme Court's finding that the option of life sentence for Kasab was "foreclosed" made the task of the government easier for a swift decision rejecting the clemency and carry out the execution.

Kasab's trial proceedings before the "stern and non-nonsense" trial judge M L Tahiliani will be studied as an example of model trial proceedings as the Supreme Court has ordered these to be part of the National Judicial Academy and state academies training judicial officers.

The bench of Justices Alam and Prasad had said, "In the course of hearing of the appeal, we also came to know the trial judge Shri Tahiliani. From the records of the case, he appears to be a stern, no-nonsense person. But he is a true flag-bearer of rule of law in this country. The manner in which he conducted the trial proceedings and maintained the record is exemplary.

"We seriously recommend that the trial court records of this case be included in the curriculum of the National Judicial Authority and judicial authorities of the different states as a model for criminal trial proceedings."

On why Kasab should get death penalty, the bench said, "This is a case of terrorist attack from across the border. It has a magnitude of unprecedented enormity on all scales. The conspiracy behind the attack was as deep and large as it was vicious. The preparation and training for the execution was as thorough as the execution was ruthless.

"In terms of loss of life and property, and more importantly in its traumatizing effect, this case stands alone, or it is at least the very rarest of rare to come before this court since the birth of the Republic. Therefore, it should also attract the rarest of rare punishment.