Court to decide lawyer for Qasab today

A special court here is likely to decide on Monday the matter of appointing a lawyer from the state legal aid cell to represent Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, the lone terrorist captured during the November 26 Mumbai attacks.

Qasab, during an earlier court hearing on March 23, had said he wanted a lawyer to represent him during the trial and was ready to accept a government-appointed lawyer.u00a0

Special judge ML Tahiliyani had asked special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam to check with the Maharashtra Service Legal Authority about lawyers on the panel who could representu00a0Qasab, who has admitted to being a resident of Faridkot in Pakistan.

However, Nikam had pointed out that Qasab was a foreign national and they would need to check the legal validity of an Indian lawyer representing him.

The special public prosecutor had also pointed out that Ajmal, while in police custody, had allegedly written a letter to the Pakistani authorities seeking consular access and a lawyer from Pakistan to represent him. The status of that plea would also need to be examined, Nikam said.

No lawyer has represented Ajmal, presently in judicial custody, during any court hearings so far and the Pakistani resident has not responded to some lawyers who had written to him expressing their willingness to represent him.

Qasab, who is currently lodged in a high security cell in Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai, is likely to attend the court proceedings through video conferencing on Monday.

He has not been produced in open court citing security concerns and is unlikely to be produced before the judge until the special court in Arthur Road jail gets ready.

Qasab and two other alleged operatives from terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, will face trial for their alleged involvement in the 26/11 attacks in which 183 persons were killed.

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