I was brainwashed, made to act like a robot: Ajmal Kasab

New Delhi, Oct 11: Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks claimed that he was brainwashed and made to act like a "robot" to commit the flagitious crime in God's name.

Ajmal further argued that he did not deserve capital punishment as he was too young to be hanged.

Kasab in his special leave petition argued through his legal counsel Gaurav Agrawal and challenged the death penalty claiming that he was innocent.

"The High Court ought to have held that even if the petitioner was guilty for the offences alleged this wasn't a fit case for imposing death sentence on the petitioner inter-alia for the reason that the petitioner's mind was completely brainwashed by the other co-accused.

"He was acting like a robot having been made to believe that he was acting in the name of God when he was allegedly told to commit the aforesaid offences," said the appeal.

The petition also claimed that Kasab's age during the carnage that left 165 dead was just 21 and hence he did not deserve death penalty.

"For that the high court ought to have held that the petitioner was barely 21 years of age and being of impressionable mind has failed to see the difference between right and wrong, he therefore, did not deserve the death penalty.

"It is respectfully submitted that even apart from the petitioner's age, the prosecution's own case revealed that the petitioner was from an economically deprived section of society, that he left school at a young age and also ran way from home following a fight with his father.

"His mental ang moral faculties are not fully developed at such a young age and hence it cannot be asserted that the possibility for reformation is non-existent and that the alternative to the death penalty is foreclosed," said the petition.

According to Kasab's counsel, there was no proof that Kasab's was involved in plotting to wage a war against India.

OneIndia News