Court to frame charges against Kasab on Wednesday

If the accused pleads guilty then there would no trial and the court would give out the punishment.

But if the accused pleads not guilty, as is normally done in most cases, the trial would begin.

In a related development, one of the accused Sabauddin, charged with handing over maps of target locations to conspirators of terror attacks, sought discharge.

The court will decide his plea on Tuesday.

Another accused person, Faheem Ansari pleaded that the charges of waging war against the nation in this case was not applicable.

His lawyer Shahid Azmi referred to Kasab's confession in which the conspirators talk about their plans to attack Mumbai with an object to liberate Kashmir.

The charge of 'Waging war against Nation' requires that accused should be an Indian and should have planned to attack the Government of India. The concept of subject attacking king applies in Mumbai, he said.

However, in this case, the conspirators were allegedly in Pakistan and therefore the charges of waging war against the nation does not hold good, the advocate said.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam countered Azmi's argument by saying that section 121 IPC defines the charge of 'Waging war against Nation' as "whoever wages war against the Government of India or attempts to do so or abets it, shall be punishable with death or life and fine. The word 'Whoever' in this definition includes anyone, Indian or foreign national."

Faheem's lawyer further contended that in IPC preamble it was mentioned that the Act was applicable to all over the country except Jammu and Kashmir.

In this case, conspirators talk about attacking Mumbai for liberating Kashmir. Hence the IPC charges would not be applicable.

However, Prosecutor Nikam pointed out that J and K was an integral part of India and hence the IPC charges would apply.