NEW DELHI: Many questions are being raised over the timing of Ajmal Kasab's execution a day ahead of Parliament's winter session, but the date for it — November 21 — was actually set over two months ago.
After Supreme Court confirmed Kasab's death sentence on August 29, the Maharashtra government, in consultation with the additional sessions judge on September 11, agreed on November 21 as the date for his execution. Though a mercy petition was filed subsequently, it was turned down by Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan on September 26.
On October 1, the Maharashtra government reconfirmed November 21 as Kasab's hanging date, and conveyed this to the Union home ministry. The Centre acted with extraordinary prompteness in clearing the Kasab file, given the enormity of his crime. The MHA opinion was formulated in less than three weeks and the file forwarded to President Pranab Mukherjee on October 16 with the recommendation that the mercy plea be rejected.
The President acted expeditiously. He sent back the file to MHA on November 5, accepting its recommendation to turn down Kasab's petition, again just 20 days after he received the MHA opinion.
Shinde signed the file on November 7 and sent it to Maharashtra for action on November 8. Still left with two weeks before the initially agreed date of Kasab's hanging, November 21, the Centre and Maharashtra had the leeway to stick to the original timeframe and decided to do so. The only uncertainty on that count arose because of Pakistan's reluctance to accept the communication that the government was obliged to send under rules, intimating the kin of the death convict.
Union home secretary R K Singh wrote to the foreign secretary on November 14 informing him of the decision to hang Kasab on November 21 at Yerwada Central prison and requesting that the information be passed on to Kasab's kin in Pakistan.
Consultations followed among Singh, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai, additional secretary in the foreign ministry and India's high commissioner to Islamabad, Sharat Sabarwal, and it was decided that the deputy high commissioner in Islamabad would deliver the information to the Pakistan foreign office, to be passed on to Kasab's family in Okara, Pakistan.
Indian deputy high commissioner Gopal Baglay's interlocutor in the Pakistan foreign ministry refused to accept the communication after going through its contents. A fresh round of consultations followed with the home secretary taking the view that the obligation to inform would be deemed to have been discharged by sending a fax, so long as they had a transmission report.
There was no doubt about the execution on November 21 once the MEA sent across the "transmission report" to MHA. As a matter of ultraprecaution, MHA also asked the deputy high commissioner to courier the information to Kasab's family at the given Pakistani address in Faridkot village, Okara district. The courier was sent on November 20 morning. The Indian authorities did not have to wait to find out whether the document was actually delivered to Kasab's family, as home secretary took the view that the obligation to inform was fulfilled the moment the courier agreed to deliver the packet.
Full stop for Ajmal Kasab, comma in terror war
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Full stop for Ajmal Kasab, comma in terror war
