A senior jail official at the Arthur Road prison in central Mumbai, where Qasab is incarcerated, told Arab News the jail authorities had submitted Qasab’s appeal along with the copy of the Special Court judgment to the registrar of the high court. In his appeal Qasab also requested the court to provide him with a lawyer from the High Court Legal Services Committee (HCLSC) to defend him. The convict has the right to choose a senior lawyer from the HCLSC panel of lawyers.
During his earlier trial in the Special Court, the government had provided Qasab with lawyers — Abbas Kazmi and K.P. Pawar. The government is bound by the constitution to provide a lawyer to a convict in order to ensure that justice is not denied to a convict because of financial reasons.
According to a state home ministry source, Qasab has to remain present before the panel of judges assigned to hear his appeal and for this the government will once again have to turn the high court premises into a fortress and deploy security personnel to protect the court and the convict.
The appeal by Qasab would mean that the case would drag on for a long time in the high court and then if the court upholds the sentence given by the Special Court, Qasab would petition the Supreme Court and then the president of India, and in this process it will take a long for his death sentence to be carried out, said police sources.
