Cong, BJP demand death penalty for David Headley

Congress and BJP were on the same page on Friday demanding death penalty for LeT terrorist David Headley and were disappointed over the 35-year-imprisonment handed down to him by a US court for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said the party was disappointed over the sentence and he should have been awarded death penalty.

BJP too expressed unhappiness over the sentence and demanded his immediate extradition to India.

"We want him to be tried like Ajmal Kasab. No Indian can settle for less than death sentence for Headley...We demand from the government of India to bring Headley to India without delay as the crime was committed on Indian soil," party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said here.

"The sentence handed down to Headley is perhaps for the death of six Americans killed on Indian soil. What about the other people killed across Mumbai in the ghastly act.

"BJP demands justice for them which is only possible when Headley is brought to India to be tried by our courts," he said.

Rudy said the sentence was only "partial" as it was awarded by a US court under US laws for the killing of American citizens.

The 52-year-old Pakistani-American was sentenced by a Chicago court for the 26/11 Mumbai carnage with the judge expressing his unhappiness over the prosecution seeking a lighter term.

Headley had entered into a plea bargain with the US investigators under which he escaped death sentence.

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