COURTESY NDTV: A Pune-based activist has filed a Right to Information or RTI application seeking to know, among other things, whether Ajmal Amir Kasab did say “Allah mujhe maaf kar (God forgive me)” before he went to the gallows last month. Also, whether the 26/11 terrorist ate a tomato before he was hanged.
These are part of an 11-point questionaire that activist Vihar Durve handed to the Yerwada Jail in Pune, where Kasab was hanged on November 21 in a swift and secret execution. His application has been rejected.
Mr Dhurve says that after Kasab’s hanging became known, many such details were published, some contradictory, and he wants to acsertain which are true. He also asked to be allowed to scrutinise file notings on Kasab.
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Jail authorities have refused to divulge details about Kasab and his execution, contending that the RTI Act 1995 prohibits giving out details about cases that involve national security. Mr Dhurve says he might move court to get the information he seeks.
Ajmal Kasab, a 25-year-old Pakistani national, was the lone terrorist captured alive after the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai in 2008. He spent a little less than four years in jail; after about 18 months of trial he was handed a death sentence by the trial court in Mumbai for a number charges including waging war on India. Kasab appealed in the High Court and then the Supreme Court, both of which upheld the death sentence.
In October this year, Kasab filed a mercy petition before the President of India, who rejected it on November 5. Within 15 days of that, Kasab was shifted out of his high-security cel at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail to Yerwada Jail in Pune and then executed at 7.30 am on November 21. His execution was kept secret and only top officials were in the know. An announcement was made only after he was hanged.