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Bombay High Court confirms death penalty for Kasab

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The Bombay High Court Monday confirmed the death sentence for Mumbai attacker Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab given by a special court for his role in the terror attacks on the financial capital, saying "it's a rarest of the rare case".

Mohammed Ajmal Amir alias Kasab, the lone surviving suspected gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is seen in this undated video grab from footage shown on CNN IBN television channel February 3, 2009. [Xinhua]

"There is no scope of reform or rehabilitation of the convicted accused. It is a rarest of rare case and the court cannot be more confident than it is today that death penalty must be given. Your death sentence is upheld. You can appeal before the Supreme Court, " a division bench of the court comprising justices Ranjana Desai and R. V. More told 24-year-old Kasab who was sentenced to death by a special Indian court last May for waging war against the state and other crimes.

The two-judge bench of the court added: "Kasab has never shown any remorse after his arrest and we have observed that even on video conference he has not shown any signs of regret. Harsh penalty of death is required in some cases, especially this one, and the court would be sending a wrong signal to society if any penalty less than death is given."

According to Indian law, death sentence given by a lower court has to be confirmed by the High Court. The convict can subsequently appeal against it to Supreme Court and later file a mercy petition before the Indian president.

The Bombay High Court also upheld the acquittal of two persons, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, who were freed by the special court on ground of "doubtful evidence".

The duo were earlier charged by Indian prosecutors with drawing maps of targets and giving them to Pakistan-based banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba which in turn allegedly gave them to Kasab and nine other terrorists who carried out the Mumbai mayhem in November, 2008.

The Mumbai terror attacks saw more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai by 10 militants who invaded from India's western side seawaters. The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on Nov. 26, 2008 and lasted until Nov. 29, killing over 170 people and wounding over 300.

Kasab, the only one of the 10 militants captured alive, was sentenced to death by a special anti-terror court on May 6 last year.

Kasab appeared briefly in the court through a video link wearing a white kurta with his head down.