Kasab vs Bhagat Singh

Yeah, I know, to 99.9999999999% Indians, this comparison in itself will sound revolting and people will start sharpening their pitch forks and their arsenal of choicest Hindi expletives. But this post is not to compare the activities or ideology of Kasab vis-à-vis Bhagat Singh, but to compare contemporary setup with its Raj-equivalent.

As one has been reminded by the very many variants of Bhagat Singh's story, which concurrently immortalized him on celluloid and have forgotten him since; Bhagat Singh's and his accomplices used harmless smoke bombs just to create a stir in the assembly and actually courted arrest by surrendering their weapons. Their modus operandi was that the ensuing trial would surely be covered by large dailies and that would be more publicity for their cause than a few million pamphlets could muster in a million years.

In contrast, Kasab and his coterie came with the sole intention of pulling off the most outrageous hit-and–run plan ever in the history of international terrorism. He was the only fateful gun-slinger to be caught alive, the rest having been granted a quick death, far superior than their nefarious deeds deserved.

People say that by trying Kasab, India is making a mistake. I think not. A widely-read Arab daily pointed out that the sign of a well formed judicial system is that it is able to keep beyond emotion and impulse and let justice take it’s slow, remorseless course. But is this compliment well directed? I differ here, again.

Justice must not only be done but also seen to be done. India could have used the Kasab trial to keep pricking the world with this thorn, reminding it of the atrocities it had been subject to, largely thanks to powers like the US and China donning kid gloves with Pakistan (in addition to India’s own magnificent ineptness). Pakistan’s degeneration, with the Swat and NWPF cave-ins, has created an image of victimhood, a curtain behind which the Pakistan establishment has only been too grateful to hide. India could have used the trial to rip this curtain apart and refocus attention on the root cause, Pakistan’s perpetual denial.

Instead, what has unfolded so far is a rather sad comedy of errors. The first defense lawyer who represented Kasab was also found to be standing for one of the terror attack victims and was summarily forced to leave. The second lawyer, a trustee of a number of Islamic institutions in Mumbai and one who has a track record of defending gangsters and bomb blast accused, tried to convince the court that Kasab was a suckling infant and should be given biscuits with milk rather than the death penalty. When the court saw through this, the Urdu charge sheet ploy was played. And the saga continue as we speak.

Another country would have stage-managed this trial and got the right leverage, but not India. India is called a successful experiment in democracy. It reminds me of a saying, “Success is about going from failure to failure without getting discouraged”. The Kasab trial is out to prove this.