If I were Ajmal Kasab, I would now be deciding on what to do next, now that my crime has been considered as a “rarest of the rare” case and I have been sentenced to death by hanging. I hear that in India, the death sentence is awarded so that the harsh punishment acts as a deterrent to others. Don’t they know that a terrorist comes ready to kill as well as to die? Don’t they know that my being apprehended alive was just plain luck? So please don’t think that hanging me will stop anybody from being a terrorist.
I am told that processions were held demanding my death. People have said that justice demands that I who cold-bloodedly took the lives of scores of innocents should be killed. The kin of some of my victims want me to be punished. Others don’t care either way. They know that hanging me won’t bring back their loved ones. And by the way, I doubt death will be a punishment. It may just be the end to all my troubles.
The terror attack was akin to a war waged against the country, say some other people. And I understand your thirst for retribution. But who am I after all? I am just a pawn playing in the hands of the perpetrators across the border. My poverty was taken advantage of; I was indoctrinated and was converted to a killing machine. The responsibility for the terror attack lies not with me but elsewhere and the Indian government is unable to do anything about it. By killing a single soldier of the enemy, the enemy is not vanquished. In fact, the loss of one soldier who was anyway sent to die will not disturb him in the least.
After the verdict was passed, the papers had reports of people saying that the punishment is too light and that I should be handed over to them. They say that they will punish me in a befitting manner. One of the police officers tells me that criminals were hung in public in England till the latter half of the 19th century. Then, people gathered to witness the hanging as if it was a fete and the atmosphere was that of a carnival. Your countrymen also seem to want the same. If I root for non-violence, it is of course laughable. But this kind of reaction from the people of your country, the land of the Buddha, of Mahatma Gandhi surprised me.
A criminal’s reformation is the actual purpose of punishment. He realises that what he did was wrong and he shows remorse for his misdeed. Sometimes I do believe that I have been wrong in killing. But then I remember my training and I feel that I just did my job which I botched up by getting caught. I get thoroughly confused. I don’t think that I can be reformed, as first of all I am not fully convinced that I have erred. But keeping alive a person like me who shows no signs of repentance would send the wrong signals.
I concede that I have been looked after well, though it amuses me that your country has spent so much on safeguarding me for the purpose of hanging me. Should I now postpone my hanging by appealing to a superior court or by filing a mercy petition to the President? Or shall I just quietly accept the death sentence. It’s a tough decision to make!
If I were Kasav, I will make one final request. I request officials to record a video with message and ask them to keep it in YouTube and also broadcast in Pakistan TV channels. In that video, I will request Pakistan youth to stay away from terror outfits. God hates terrorists. Now, it is too late for me to realise this fact.
Author: Pratibha Shenoy (Basavanagudi, Bangalore)
Note: These are random thoughts but not meant for hurting anyone.
Uproar on the judgement of Ajmal Kasab throughout the country was unbecoming given the true spirit of the land. People had been got carried away like Kasab himself. this is not to dilute the crime of the both. Taking life of a man we can not bring back the dead one. Neither it helps to eradicate the crime. We need to find out the root cause of the crime. Pratibha Devi, I wish, if your thought could be made all pervasive.