Now that Ajmal Kasab’s trial is over, I think we can expect him to be awarded the death penalty within
a month or so. That should silence many of the critics who have been demanding his execution almost from the day he was
captured.
It is easy to see why people wanted Kasab to be put to death. Not only is he a terrorist and a murderer but he is also a symbol of the terrible events of 26/11 when jihadis struck at the heart of one of our greatest cities. Primordial desire for revenge is at its strongest when we deal with the murderers of innocent people and so the clamour for his execution is understandable.
But what many of those who were demanding that we kill him did not seem to realise was that Kasab’s very survival was a deliberate act in itself. More often than not, police and security forces do not bother to take terrorists alive, either wounding them fatally in the battles that precede their capture or even, killing them once they have them in custody. The moral and legal arguments against custodial killings are strong but policemen take the line that it is too much trouble to keep terrorists alive and that it is often difficult to frame a case against them in courts of law.
The decision to take Kasab alive was predicated on the belief that we needed to find out who was behind the 26/11 attacks. In retrospect, it was probably the only sensible decision the Bombay Police took that night as they scrambled ineffectually to defend the city.
It is because of Kasab that we know how the terrorists got into Bombay, who sent them, and what their mission was. As significant is his role as a symbol of Pakistani involvement in terrorism. Without Kasab alive and in custody, Indian claims about Pakistani involvement would have been dismissed by the rest of the world.
In the circumstances, I don’t think we had much choice but to put him on trial. If we had simply bumped him off once he had confessed, we would have been seen like a banana republic in the eyes of the world. Instead, we demonstrated that we were a society of laws by allowing him the right to fair trial and full legal representation. Even when he kept changing his story and advanced claims that were more and more absurd, the judicial system continued to function. Now, when the verdict comes in, no one will be able to claim that Kasab was denied justice.
You can argue – with some justification, I think – that even though the trial took a year, something of a record for the Indian criminal justice system where cases drag on for years and years, it still took too long. The case against Kasab was straight-forward and clear. Yet, the prosecution insisted on calling too many witnesses and making the proceedings more complicated than they needed to be. Even so, at least this was not as bad as the trial of those involved in the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts, which took over a decade and resulted in miscarriages of justice.
It is hard to be sure but given the overwhelming nature of the evidence against him, I imagine that Kasab will get the death penalty. As long as such a punishment is on the books, there is little doubt that it must be applied to people like Kasab, whose crimes fit into the ‘rarest of the rare’ category.
| "Kasab deserves the worst possible punishment. But death is not that punishment. And nor is it a deterrent to future fidayeen." |
Besides, there are practical advantages to hanging Kasab. At least nobody will hijack an aeroplane to demand Kasab’s release in exchange for the lives of the passengers. There will be no IC 814s undertaken in Kasab’s name.
Even so, I do not share the primordial blood lust that many Indians seem to display these days. Yes, I agree that Kasab is an evil man. I agree that he deserves to suffer. And I concede that his punishment must be such that it deters future terrorists.
But here’s my question: how does the possibility of death deter a suicide attacker?
Kasab and his fellow terrorists went into the Bombay operation convinced that there was a strong possibility that they would lose their lives. When negotiators made attempts to reach deals with the other terrorists (at Nariman House, for instance) they were rebuffed because they had nothing that the terrorists valued to offer them. Many criminals caught up in a siege situation will accept safe passage. But these guys had no desire to be escorted to safety. They were quite willing to die.
So, if we do hang Kasab, we will merely be giving him what he always expected. No doubt he believes that he will join his fallen comrades in jihadi heaven and party for all eternity as 42 virgins are provided to satisfy his every need.
In these circumstances, what do we gain by hanging him? The only benefit will be to our own lust for revenge. We will feel that justice has been done and that the deaths of the innocents of 26/11 have finally been avenged.
But is this enough? Should we really be allowing this man to be martyred? When he goes off to his death, treating it as no more than the first stop on the road to paradise, won’t he actually be a little relieved not to hang around in an Indian jail any longer?
My suggestion is that we should re-think our blood lust. Of course, Kasab deserves the worst possible punishment. But death is not that punishment. And nor is it a deterrent to future fidayeen.
So, let’s be a little creative. Let’s think of a fate worse than death. And let’s make each day that Kasab spends on this planet a living hell.
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