Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of the November 26, 2008 terror attacks here, has demanded retrial of the case citing that he was denied fair trial in the special court. Kasab's defence counsel Amin Solkar said this in the opening argument in the Bombay High Court on Thursday.

However, the court categorically said it would not appreciate the submission at this point, as it was convinced of the trial at the special court.

“We would have been with you if we had found gross neglect of the rights of the accused. But we have to strike a balance between the victims' rights and the rights of the accused while following the principle of speedy justice,” Justice Ranjana Desai said.

“Rule of law”

She also silenced the defence lawyer by telling him how the rule of law prevailed in India. “Just imagine, in our country even a foreign national is given the opportunity [to get justice]. We aren't even going into whether Fundamental Rights are available to him or not,” she said.

The defence pleaded retrial based on three points: important witnesses were not examined, some important material evidence was not presented before the court and procedures were not followed for appointing lawyers to defend Kasab.