Terming the Supreme Court order upholding Ajmal Kasab's death sentence in Mumbai attacks case as "inevitable", Law Minister Salman Khurshid rejected suggestions of delay in the final verdict saying a country governed by rule of law cannot mete out street justice.
"I had seen the Bombay High Court judgement. It was very, very complicated judgement for the judiciary to have given.
They must have worked very hard on it. That's been upheld by the Supreme Court. I think most people who do analysis of law would say this was an inevitable endorsement that would have come," he told reporters.
In reply to a question on delay in award of the final verdict and allegations that the Congress-led government was 'going slow' on terror, Khurshid said, "You have to go through the process of hearing every side and reflecting on what is being said and finally pronouncing the order.
"Being tough on terrorism does not necessarily mean you should destroy rule of law. When we chose to be a country governed by the rule of law, we knew the rule of law meant that you cannot have street justice," he said.
Khurshid said India opted for the rule of law because it is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.
"And you pay a price for that. I think the price this country is always ready to pay to uphold the rule of law, but at the end of the day, the rule of law upholds your deep convictions that you have to battle against terrorism, immorality, corruption everywhere and all the time," he said.