26/11 Judgment Day

As of now,Kasab is rarely allowed outside the cell,except while going to the courtroom. He is not even permitted to take a walk in the verandah outside his cell.

But if he is awarded death,“he will be treated like any death row convict,” principal secretary (Home,Appeals and Jails) Medha Gadgil said.

Walks in the yard are among the privileges allowed to convicts on death row until the disposal of their appeal or the final execution,the aim being to deter them from harming themselves in desperation within solitary confinement.

Kasab is lodged in a bulletproof,bombproof,solitary cell in Arthur Road prison. His cell is thoroughly checked twice a day for any object with which he may harm himself. Jail doctors conduct a full body checkup twice daily while doctors from the JJ Hospital,too,visit hi s cell once every week for a routine checkup.

Under the Maharashtra prison manual rules,other privileges allowed to death row convicts include listening to the radio and asking for personal religious discourses from a maulvi.

Now,Kasab reads the Qur’an alone and keeps mostly to himself,though he interacts occasionally with the guards posted outside,having picked up Marathi.

An official said,“Death row convicts are not assigned any work to do in prison. But they are allowed to move out in their yard for sometime,and listen to the radio on the public announcement system,for some time during the day.”

Some things will not change. Death row convicts are kept inside the ‘Yard for death prisoners’ and confined to a single cell. They are not allowed to interact with anyone. Food is served from the prison canteen. Security is tight round the clock.

Senior advocate Aisha Ansari said,“Relatives are allowed to meet convicts once a month,but liberties of temporary release like parole and furlough are not allowed.”