Kasab need not be hanged: Kazmi

MUMBAI: Special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam and lawyer Abbas Kazmi defending the Pakistani gunman accused in the November 26 terror attack case are not only in opposite camps but also hold divergent views on capital punishment. While Nikam said capital punishment should be given to convicts in serious crimes like terror cases and should be expedited, Kazmi said that punishment should be reformative.Nikam said the death penalty is awarded where there is no scope for reversal and a convict is not likely to be reformed in society. But if appeals against the death penalty are kept pending in courts for a long time, then capital punishment would lose its significance. Kazmi, however, maintained, "I am against capital punishment because if we as human beings cannot give life to anyone then we do not have the right to take life also. Look at Valmiki who reformed himself from a dacoit to a saint...Punishment should be reformative and every convict should be given a chance to reform himself,'' Kazmi said.Prison conditions are such that life imprisonment would be the harshest punishment for any convict. In the death penalty, a convict does not suffer after he is hanged but in case of a lifer, he dies every day in jail because of hardship, Kazmi said. The perpetrators of terror attacks should be given stringent punishment, Kasab's lawyer said.