“He should be hanged by the neck until he is dead,” he said. “I don’t find any case for a lesser punishment than death in the case of waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts.”

Kasab, 22, dressed in a traditional white tunic, sat with his head in his hands staring at the floor of the dock as the judge issued the sentence, three days after the Pakistani’s conviction on Monday.

“Today’s sentencing sends the message that keeping Kasab alive would be a crime in itself,” the public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said. “Terrorism and terrorists like Kasab cannot be tolerated. The death penalty is the only option.”

Defence lawyer K.P. Pawar had argued against capital punishment, suggesting his client was brainwashed into committing the offences while under the influence of Pakistan-based extremists.

Ajmal Kasab’s two alleged Indian accomplices were acquitted by the court which makes it clear that Mumbai attacks were planned in Pakistan without any assistance from within India. The verdict is also based mostly on the confession of Ajmal Kasab which he later denied and claimed to be given under torture.

The death penalty is likely to trigger a lengthy, possibly open-ended, appeal through the Indian courts. It will take years before the execution.

Source: The Dawn