There is no evidence to claim that Akhilesh Yadav signed a petition seeking commutation of Kasab’s death sentence. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 10, 2021
A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Akhilesh Yadav had signed a petition in the past seeking commutation of Kasab’s death sentence. Ajmal Kasab was the last surviving terrorist from the 26/11 terror attack that killed 166 people; he was hanged to death on 21 November 2012. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Akhilesh Yadav had signed a petition in the past seeking commutation of Ajmal Kasab’s death sentence.
Fact: There is no evidence to show that Akhilesh Yadav had signed a petition in the past seeking commutation of Ajmal Kasab’s death sentence. Several websites and blogs have published a list of people who signed the petition addressed to the President of India for Kasab’s pardon, there is no mention of Akhilesh Yadav in such a list. Ajmal Kasab was the last surviving terrorist from the 26/11 terror attack that killed 166 people; he was hanged to death on 21 November 2012. Mercy petition filed by Ajmal Kasab was rejected by the President on 05 November 2012. We could not find any news reports about any statements made by Akhilesh Yadav on Kasab’s death sentence. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
When we searched online, we could not find any credible information or news reports that said Akhilesh Yadav signed a petition seeking the commutation of Kasab’s death sentence. If Akhilesh Yadav had signed such a petition, it would have been reported by all major news outlets. In fact, when Kasab was hanged to death in November 2012, Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Anything said or done by him, would have surely been reported by the media. The social media handles of Akhilesh Yadav – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – do not mention signing such a petition.
According to an article by the Indian Express, more than 200 people signed a petition addressed to the then President Pranab Mukherjee to pardon Kasab. There were several prominent names in the list of signatories who opposed Kasab’s execution. However, there is no mention of Akhilesh Yadav in this list.
Several websites and blogs have published a list of people who signed this particular petition. Which can be seen here, here, and here. There is no mention of Akhilesh Yadav in the list shared by them.
Ajmal Kasab was the last surviving terrorist from the 26/11 terror attack that killed 166 people; he was hanged to death on 21 November 2012. “The Mumbai trial court had on May 6, 2010, awarded death sentence to Kasab which was upheld by the Bombay High Court on February 21, 2011. The apex court rejected his appeal on August 29 (2012).” Mercy petition filed by Ajmal Kasab was rejected by the President of India on 05 November 2012. We could not find any news reports about any statements made by Akhilesh Yadav on Kasab’s death sentence.
To sum it up, there is no evidence to claim that Akhilesh Yadav signed a petition seeking the commutation of Kasab’s death sentence.