India Debates Siege Suspect's Legal Rights

NEW DELHI, Dec. 20 -- First, a prominent bar association passed a resolution telling its members not to represent Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in last month's attacks in Mumbai. Then, the home of a noted criminal lawyer who offered to defend Kasab was pelted with stones. More than three weeks after the rampage in Mumbai, the legal system in the world's largest democracy is being tested as Indians debate whether Kasab deserves an attorney. "Besides the human rights of a terrorist, we also have to look at the human rights of the innocent victims as well," said the resolution, which was read by a leader of the Metropolitan Magistrate Court's Bar Association in Mumbai, which includes about 1,060 lawyers. But K.S. Chauhan, a senior federal lawyer, said it is "the duty of lawyers to enable the suspect to have a fair trial," adding that no democracy wants mob justice. "That's not the answer either." From his prison cell in Mumbai, Kasab, 21, has told police that he is Pakistani and that he received weapons training from Lashkar-i-Taiba, the outlawed Pakistan-based militant group that India says was behind the attacks. Kasab is being held on 12 charges, including murder and waging war against the country. During the siege, a wild-eyed Kasab, waving an assault rifle in the air, was captured on security cameras at the city's main train station. The widely circulated image has become one of the defining symbols of the attacks, in which more than 170 people were killed. The emotional public debate over Kasab's case comes as the government faces intense public pressure to improve the country's intelligence and security agencies. Before the Mumbai attacks, a string of bombings in several other cities had killed more than 250 people since May. Parliament recently approved anti-terrorism laws that would allow suspects to be detained without bail for as many as six months on the orders of a judge. But Amnesty International has said the measures could violate civil rights. The legislation requires the president's approval before it becomes law. Meanwhile, Kasab has asked for legal aid from the Pakistani consulate, said Rakesh Maria, joint police commissioner in Mumbai. But Pakistan has not acknowledged Kasab's nationality and has complained that India has failed to produce evidence in the case. Some civil rights advocates say the debate about Kasab's right to a defense shows how angry society is about the attacks, which targeted several symbols of India's prosperity, including the landmark Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel. Some lawyers have slowly started to come to Kasab's defense, arguing that a mature democracy must have a court system that tries suspects in the courtroom, not through public opinion. "It should not matter whether he is Pakistani or Muslim or Indian or Hindu," said Gyan Mitra, a lawyer who has defended terrorism suspects. "As a human, he should get all his legal rights, and it is a fundamental right in our country for a suspect to be able to defend himself. A lawyer cannot refuse to represent a suspect on the grounds that he is guilty."Some say the public does not trust the country's sluggish and overworked court system to deliver justice because trials often drag on for decades. For instance, the courts have not yet made a firm decision in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, which killed more than 200 people. "It is because of precedents such as these that demands for quick justice in the Kasab case are so strong," read an editorial in Mint, an economic newspaper. "Kasab deserves the most extreme punishment. We are in no doubt about that. But his sentencing has to be through the constitutional process. We should not try to emulate the tribal justice usually meted out in the badlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan." Kasab's treatment during his interrogation has also been debated. The Mumbai police have said they will probably administer a "truth serum" -- a controversial method in which the subject is injected with the barbiturate sodium pentothal. It would put Kasab into a trance, while a forensic psychologist would question him. Most countries banned the practice, which was widely used by Western nations during the Cold War, after it became known that the drug could cause delusions and psychotic episodes. "There's immense pressure upon the police to extract the requisite information since there is so much moral outrage in the entire country," said Suhas Chakma of the Asian Center for Human Rights in New Delhi. "The stakes are high. But it is in their interests to keep Kasab alive since there is a global investigation underway." Under Indian law, Kasab will be appointed an attorney, even if bar associations refuse to represent him, experts said.

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