The Verdict: False
Advocates like Abbas Kazmi, Amin Solkar, and Farhana Shah represented 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab at different stages.
What is the claim?
Multiple social media users have claimed that former member of the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) of the Parliament and advocate Majeed Memon was Ajmal Kasab’s lawyer. Kasab was convicted and executed for the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Users claimed that Sharad Pawar, the founder of the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), made Memon a Rajya Sabha MP, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gave a ticket to Ujjwal Nikam who was responsible for prosecuting and securing the hanging of Kasab.
The archives of these posts can be found here and here.
However, we found that social media posts claiming Memon defended Kasab during the trial are false. There is no evidence to support the claim that he was associated with the trial. Additionally, Nikam was a government counsel during Kasab’s trial and joined the BJP earlier this year.
What are the facts?
We began our search by using keywords such as ‘Majeed Memon’ and ‘Ajmal Kasab’ to search for any news reports related to the trial. However, we did not find any news reports stating that Majeed Memon defended Ajmal Kasab during his trial related to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Majeed Memon and Ajmal Kasab
We came across an article written by Majeed Memom titled “Why I Will Not Stand Up In Court For Kasab” published on December 21, 2008, in various news media outlets, including The Economic Times and The Times of India.
In this article, Memon advocated for a prompt trial for Kasab, citing the substantial evidence against him and emphasised that the “enormity of his crime in all probability would lead to a death sentence”. He also argued that it was mandatory for Kasab to have a lawyer as the absence of one will affect the fairness of the trial.
Memon concluded his article by stating, “As far as I am concerned, I will not defend him in court because his case is indefensible. We have all seen him committing the crime. His guilt is beyond doubt.”
Memon, who was then a member of the NCP, is now a part of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Ajmal Kasab’s lawyers
Advocate Anjali Waghmare was Kasab’s court-appointed lawyer but she withdrew from the case following political pressure and attacks on her house.
After Waghmare, Abbas Kazmi was chosen to represent Kasab. Nine months later, Kazmi was dismissed by Judge M.L. Tahiliyani for “not cooperating with it (court) in the interest of justice”.
In November 2009, K.P. Pawar was appointed as the new lawyer. Pawar had been assisting Kazmi since the beginning of the trial. Later, in June 2010, the Bombay High Court appointed advocate Amin Solkar as a lawyer in the case and Farhana Shah as Solkar’s assistant. In 2011, the Bombay High Court upheld the death penalty for Kasab, describing the case as ‘rarest of the rare’ and stating that there was “no scope of reform or rehabilitation of the convicted accused”.
In the Supreme Court, it was senior advocate Raju Ramachandran who served as the amicus curiae in Kasab’s case.
Who is Ujjwal Nikam?
In April 2024, the BJP fielded Ujjwal Nikam, the prosecutor in the 26/11 case, as their candidate from Mumbai North-Central constituency. Nikam played a key role in various high-profile cases like the Kalyan bomb blast case and the Mumbai serial blasts case.
The verdict
Majeed Memon was not a part of the legal team of 26/11 accused Ajmal Kasab at any point in his trial. Advocates like Abbas Kazmi, Amin Solkar, and Farhana Shah represented Kasab at different stages. Memon himself stated in an opinion piece that he will not defend Kasab.
This report first appeared on logicallyfacts.com, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.