Kasab’s lawyer KP Pawar (above) and public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam

Mumbai, May 3: Judge M.L. Tahaliyani suo motu tried to brush up his knowledge of languages as he tried Ajmal Kasab — and it wasn’t judicial Latin.

The judge showed an interest in Kasab’s mother tongue, asking him several times the meaning of certain Urdu words that figured during the presentation of evidence.

Kasab, on his part, picked up a smattering of Marathi and listened attentively to witnesses testifying in the local language.

When the court was recording his statement at the fag end of the trial, Kasab replied to some of the judge’s questions in Marathi, saying: “Mala mahit nahin (I don’t know).” Asked when he had learnt Marathi, the accused replied: “Ithech shikale (I learnt it here).”

Tahaliyani often took recourse to humour to relieve boredom in the courtroom, or to break up a heated exchange between prosecution and defence.

Once he said pot-bellied policemen should be given belts of a standard size. If the belts failed to fit, the personnel should be asked to go on leave till they got back in shape.

Tahaliyani, who has a reputation for being strict and fair, had begun his career in 1987 as a metropolitan magistrate in a Bandra court. He rose to become a judge in the city’s civil and sessions court before taking up an assignment as high court registrar (inspection). He was then promoted to sessions judge in 2000, then posted as a special CBI judge.

The high-profile cases Tahaliyani has judged include the murder trial of music baron Gulshan Kumar, in which Abdul Rauf Merchant was sentenced to life imprisonment. He also presided over the murder trial of trade union leader Datta Samant.