Kasab's lawyer apologises to trial court

Mumbai : Abbas Kazmi, the lawyer of lone captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab, yesterday tendered an unconditional apology before the special 26/11 trial court for his remarks that he did not care about affidavits of witnesses filed by the prosecution.

Judge M.L. Tahaliyani accepted his apology and also withdrew his own remark on Thursday that it was "crystal clear" that Kazmi had "lied" to the court.

The judge had called him a "liar" as Kazmi denied that public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had ever stated that he would also rely on the affidavits of 339 "formal" witnesses.

The judge told him, "This is very irresponsible behaviour on your part. I have myself heard the prosecutor say in open court on several occasions that he was going to rely on the affidavits."

In today's order, the judge said, "In the interests of justice the issue has been resolved amicably. Keeping in mind the submissions made by prosecutor and the defence lawyer, it can said that the observations made by me yesterday would not be taken into consideration."

There was some doubt about the continuation of Kazmi as Kasab's lawyer but having apologised, the trial is set to continue without a hitch. Kazmi today said, "This is a historic trial and I have done my best to defend the accused. What happened was in the heat of the moment and I tender an unconditional apology."

The drama had started after Nikam argued that the court had already examined 271 witnesses and he was submitting the evidence of 339 more "formal" witnesses to the court through their written statements and not requiring their physical presence in court.

These "formal" witnesses were those who had claimed the bodies of victims, medical officers who conducted autopsies, witnesses who took the injured and deceased to hospital, and others. Examining all of them would cause a delay, he had said.