29 Apr : The bone and dental tests of Mumbai terror attack accused Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab revealed that he was not a juvenile as claimed by him, even as two witnesses told the trial court that he had given his age as 21 years when he was brought before them after his arrest.
This evidence has bolstered the prosecution’s case which had asked for an inquiry by the court to determine the age of the accused before charges were framed against him.
Judge M L Tahaliyani took on record the reports of ossification (bone) test and dental examination along with X-rays which indicated that Kasab was above 20 years.
The bone test was conducted by a panel of four doctors of J.J hospital.
The dental examination of lower jaws of Kasab showed his wisdom tooth and roots developed, indicating that he was a major, Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said.
The X-ray of Kasab’s elbow, shoulder, chest and pelvis showed that there was a complete fusion of bones which clearly indicated that he was above 20, added Nikam while reading out the extracts of the report.
The panel of doctors have opined that Kasab must surely be above the age of 20 years.
Apart from the findings of forensic reports that Kasab was not a juvenile, prosecution examined two witnesses to tell the court that Kasab had himself informed them that he was 21 years.
Jail Superintendent Swati Sathe, who was examined as witness, said Kasab was admitted as an inmate of the central jail on 12th December last year and he had given his age and date of birth as 21 years and 13th September, 1987, respectively.
She even produced a register to show his age and date of birth recorded by the jail staff.
Defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi, during cross-examination, pointed out that Kasab’s age and date of birth was included in the "physicial appearance" column and not in the "age" column.
To this, Sathe replied "this happened because Kasab had intervened to say that he wanted to talk to his mother in Pakistan and had even given the telephone number".
Asked if telephone numbers provided by other accused were also recorded in the same register produced before the court, Sathe replied "it is normally recorded in another register. But Kasab’s telephone number was recorded in this register because he was referred to me as a "high risk" prisoner".
However, Sathe could not explain why it was not recorded in the same register that he was a "high risk" prisoner.
To a question, the jail superintendent said that date of birth of other prisoners had not been recorded in the register but admitted that Kasab’s date of birth was stated therein.
The witness denied the suggestion of defence lawyer that he had falsely stated Kasab’s age and date of birth at the instance of police.
The witness told the Prosecutor that Kasab was able to speak when he was brought to trauma ward of the hospital on 26th November.
But during cross examination, he told the defence lawyer that he had not mentioned in his statement to police that Kasab was able to speak.
The court has summoned three more witnesses tomorrow on a plea by Kasab’s lawyer.
They are a doctor who had signed the ossification test report of Kasab, casualty medical officer of Nair Hospital and a record assistant of the same hospital.