Daily News

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab may not have any sympathiser in the country but the legal system will ensure that he gets a fair chance.

Hardly anybody had any doubt about his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attack, yet Kasab managed to preserve his deemed-to-be-innocent status until he was held guilty on Monday.

And this is not the end of the road for him.

The country's criminal justice system envisages that a convict be given a hearing before the quantum of sentence is decided. Kasab - whose punishment could either be life imprisonment or death sentence - will be given an opportunity to cite mitigating circumstances in his favour to escape the noose.

Despite the gravity of the offence, he would be entitled to cite circumstances such as his young age, etc, to escape the death sentence. The judge, on the other hand, will be under a duty to give reasons for awarding capital punishment and not life imprisonment.

Besides, even if he is sentenced to death, he cannot be hanged until the sentence is confirmed by the high court.

The state, thus, will have to approach the high court for confirmation of the sentence.

This, however, will not bar Kasab from approaching the high court to challenge the conviction itself.

The judgment by the trial court will be subjected to scrutiny by the high court in appeal and Kasab can take advantage of the flaws in the prosecution story. The prosecution, on the other hand, will not be allowed to cite any fresh evidence against him.

If the high court also holds him guilty, he can approach the Supreme Court to challenge his conviction and sentence.

The apex court is the final court of appeal and here a convict, in deserving cases, gets ample opportunity to put forth his case. If his appeal is dismissed, Kasab can still seek a review of the judgment by citing lapses in it.

Apart from this, in extraordinary cases of miscarriage of justice, the Supreme Court entertains a curative petition after the review petition is dismissed.

Kasab's legal right does not end here. His nationality would not come in the way of his right to file a petition before the President for clemency. It could, therefore, be years before the law would finally catch up with him. After all, he was deemed innocent for over 550 days despite being overpowered and caught in the action.