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In this November 26, 2008 photo, Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab walks
through the CST railway station in Mumbai. The Home Ministry on Tuesday
rejected Kasab’s mercy petition
The mercy plea of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the
26/11 Mumbai attacks, has been rejected by the government which has sent
its recommendation to the President.
A top Home Ministry official said Kasab’s mercy petition has been
dismissed as he was involved in a grave crime and waging war against
India that led to killing 166 people.
The 25-year-old Pakistani and nine other fellow Lashkar-e-Taiba
terrorists had landed in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 by sea from Karachi
and had gone on a shooting spree at various places, carrying out the
country’s worst terror attack. While Kasab was captured alive, the other
terrorists were killed by security forces.
Kasab’s mercy petition was sent to the Home Ministry by the Maharashtra government last month after rejecting the plea.
A brief official release said, “The Home Ministry has only processed
Kasab’s mercy petition and submitted it to President for decision”.
After nearly a four-year-long legal battle, on August 29, 2012 the
Supreme Court had confirmed the death penalty awarded to the LeT
operative by the trial court and later upheld by the Bombay High Court.
Upholding Kasab’s conviction, the Supreme Court had said that he killed
without “the slightest twinge of conscience”.
The Pakistani gunman is currently lodged in the high-security Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.
After the Home Ministry’s recommendation, it is now left to President
Pranab Mukherjee to take a final decision on Kasab’s mercy plea.
There are more than a dozen mercy petitions pending before the President
for final decision which include Parliament attack case convict Afzal
Guru.
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