The India Supreme Court should take to task the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrate’s Courts Bar Association and another legal association, the Legal Aid Panel, which have formally resolved not to appear to defend Ajmal Amir Kasab, who is the one survivor out of the ten terrorists who engaged in the rampage in Mumbai on November 26. Both of these bar associations have unanimously resolved that it is unconscionable to represent Amir Kasab in any court. This act on the part of these bar associations goes against the most basic principles of the legal profession and also violates the most basic tenets for the freedom of the individual, including the right to a fair trial.
The world has condemned the barbaric acts committed at Mumbai. However, even the worst criminals, including those who embarked the Second World War, had their rights to be represented by lawyers in a court of law. The law does not fight terrorism in a court house with arms or hatred; before courts everyone has the right to be treated humanely, fairly and with all the rights that any other person would have before the court. The legal profession is not a barbaric profession; it is one of the highest professions of civilised society. It is one thing to kill a terrorist in combat, like the nine other persons who were companions of Amir Kasab that were killed when the police and armed forces engaged in trying to stop their violence. But once arrested even a terrorist has the right to be treated with the same degree of protection that the law provides to anyone else.
When bar associations contribute to the general hysteria and behave like an unruly mob, forgetting about the very legal and moral principles on which their profession is based, they are, in fact, undermining the very foundation of the rule of law. The legal profession itself is rooted in the tradition of the rule of law. When the bar associations violate these rules they themselves contribute to the worst form of barbarism, including the emergence of terrorism. The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns the actions of these two bar associations and regards their actions in this instance as a disgrace to the great traditions of law in India.
The founders of Indian democracy would doubtless be ashamed to see the open behaviour of the bar associations who are acting in this manner. This is a serious enough matter for the Indian Supreme Court to take these two bar associations to task.
