What could be the beginning of the end of the 26/11 terror attacks trial, a special court on Monday found the lone terrorist captured in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks, Ajmal Kasab, guilty of murdering 7 people, abetting the murder of 159, criminal conspiracy and waging war against the nation. Anand Bhatt, Senior Partner at Wadia Ghandy was one of the casualties in the violent attacks that bought the country to a standstill. 

However, the fastest terror trial in Indian history had, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, both Indian nationals, accused of providing logistic support in the form of crudely drawn maps of Mumbai to the terrorists. They were however acquitted of all charges, as the court felt that the evidence was inconclusive. Judge Tahaliyani, while acquitting them of all charges, pulled up authorities for shoddy investigation work who were unable to produce credible evidence against the two.

Fahim Ansari, was first represented by Shahid Azmi. After he was shot dead in February this year, younger brother Khalid Azmi and Advocate Saba Qureshi took over and represented Fahim Ansari for the remainder of the trial. 

The case which was argued by Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam went on for more than seventeen months and saw about 650 witnesses being examined, today demanded death penalty for Kasab. Kasab was represented by three lawyers during the tenure of the trial, including Anjali Waghmare, who was removed even before the commencement of the trial when it was found that she had earlier represented one of the witnesses in the trial too.

After Waghmare’s dismissal, Abbas Kazmi was appointed  but was sacked by the special court for failure to co-operate with the court. The final lawyer in the case was K.P. Pawar who argued that Kasab was an innocent Pakistani who was picked up by the police force from the Chowpatty area of Bombay.

The trial has thrown up some interesting numbers. There were 658 witnesses examined, the Government filed a 12,850 page charge sheet, 3,192 pages of evidence were recorded and the Judgment delivered by Justice Tahaliyani is about 1,524 pages. The Federal Bureau of Investigation deposed to corroborate and give technical evidence that the killers came from Pakistan. In comparison for the 1993 Mumbai blasts, the Kasab trial lasted 271 days while the 1993 blasts took 14 years, this is one of the fastest criminal trials. 

Judge Tahaliyani who has been lauded for the pace of the trial found Kasab guilty by the court on various charges including 302 (murder), 121(b) (waging war against state), 120(b) (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and the Explosives Act, Arms Act, Railway Act and Foreigner’s Act and other offences. 

The evidence against Kasab was stacked high, with eyewitnesses positively identifying Kasab as the gunman along with CCTV footage and photographs which showed Kasab wielding a gun at the attack sites and mobile records as well as forensic evidence proved his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The court also held 20 others, including absconding LeT chiefs, Hafees Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, guilty of waging war against India.

From today, the court will begin to hear arguments on the quantum of the sentence that is to be awarded. If Kasab is awarded the death penalty, as is widely expected, the case will automatically move to the Bombay High Court which will have to confirm the death sentence.The trial was not without its share of twists and turns with Kasab on two occasions confessing to his crime and later retracting his statements saying that it was given at the behest of the police guarding him.

The Society of Indian Law Firms also filed a Public Interest Litigation after the Mumbai attacks along with a flurry of other PILs.

It’s clear that the 26/11 saga is far from coming to an end with Indian authorities expected to be granted access to American citizen and LeT terrorist David Headley who pleaded guilty to counts of terrorism relating to the Mumbai attacks earlier this year in a Chicago court.