Ajmal Kasab is India's 309th convict awaiting death

Mumbai: With the Supreme Court upholding death sentence for 26/11 attack convict Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, he became the 309th prisoner in India awaiting execution. The long list of convicts on death row means that Kasab may not be hanged soon.

If executed, Kasab will be the 52nd person to be hanged in India since independence.

At least 256 condemned convicts are currently awaiting Supreme Court's and high courts' endorsement to their death sentence handed down by trial courts. A total of 52 others have filed mercy petitions before the Central Government seeking pardon or reduction of their sentence.

In Maharashtra, where Kasab is lodged, alone has 39 prisoners awaiting execution. The list, however, is topped by Bihar with 80 death row convicts. Uttar Pradesh comes next with 72 convicts.

Kasab has ahead of him people like Mohammed Afzal Guru, the terrorist condemned to the gallows for his involvement in the December 2001 Parliament attack case, awaiting the President's decision on his mercy petition.

Those on the death row ahead of Kasab include fugitive underworld don Tiger Memon's brother Yaqub Memon and 11 others, awaiting the Supreme Court's decision on the death sentence awarded by an Mumbai anti-terror court in December 2006 for their role in the serial bombing in the metropolis that killed 257 people and maimed 713 others.

According to the Home ministry's fact-sheet on people on death row, a total of 29 mercy petitions involving 52 condemned prisoners, seeking pardon, under Article 72 of the constitution are still pending with the Central Government.

At least seven of the condemned prisoners - six from Uttar Pradesh and one from Tamil Nadu - have been able to survive for over 12 years as their mercy pleas have remained pending with Rashtrapati Bhawan since 1998.

Seven others, figuring in five other mercy petitions filed in 1999, have been able to survive for 11 years as the president is yet to take any decision on their mercy pleas.

Five condemned prisoners who filed their mercy petitions in 2000 and 25 other condemned prisoners who filed their mercy petitions between 2001-06 are also awaiting a decision from the president.

During the last decade (1990-2000), the president rejected seven mercy petitions and commuted the sentences of two, while in the previous decade (1980-89) out of 45 mercy petitions, 41 were rejected and four commuted.

(With additional information from IANS)