Mumbai gunman Azam Amir Kasab faces 5,000-page charge sheet
The man police claim is the sole surviving gunman of the Mumbai terrorist attacks will be formerly charged today.
The document listing the crimes allegedly committed by Azam Amir Kasab is thought to be 5,000 pages long and lists misdemeanours ranging from murder and the waging war against India to being on a train platform without a valid ticket.
Police allege that Kasab, from Pakistan, an accomplice shot dead more than 50 people in an attack on Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s main train station, on November 26. In all ten gunmen took part in the Mumbai attacks, which claimed the lives of 170 people. Authorities believe the gunmen were trained in camps in Pakistan.
The charge sheet against Kasab will be filed before a metropolitan magistrate, who is then expected to transfer the case to a special court inside the city's high security Arthur Road jail. It is expected to detail the alleged roles played by two Indian nationals - Faheem Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed - in carrying out reconaissance ahead of the attacks.
It may also name Yosuf Muzzamil and Zaki-ur-Rehman, two members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based terrorist faction, which India claims handled the operation and which it alleges has close links with Pakistan’s powerful spy agency. If convicted, Kasab will face the death sentence.
Pakistan admitted for the first time this month that the Mumbai strikes were partly planned on its soil and has acknowledged that Kasab is a Pakistani.
With the filing of formal charges, however, the Indian judicial system must now grapple with the question of Kasab's defence in the light of a refusal by lawyers to represent him.
India's constitution provides for the right to legal aid and representation, as well as a "fair, just and equitable procedure" in court for any defendant, regardless of nationality.
The honorary secretary of the Bombay Bar Association, M.P. Rao, told AFP in December that the unprecedented nature of the attacks meant normal rules should not apply. "He has waged war on the country. If he's waged war, the basic requirement of giving him a fair trial doesn't really become justified," he said.
It was unclear this morning whether Kasab would appear in court.
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