Law minister Ashwani Kumar on Thursday said it was unfair to criticise the government's handling of Ajmal Kasab's hanging, considering that the timing for hanging a convict who has exhausted all legal remedies is never advertised.

"All legal rights of defence available to any other accused were likewise made available even in Kasab's case, which ensured a fair trial," Kumar said.

He termed criticism from human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as unfair.

"Where is the question of it being shrouded in secrecy? The President's decision was communicated to Pakistan and even Kasab's family. This only shows our nation's overarching commitment to the rule of law," Kumar said.

When asked to comment on the death penalty, he said, "After a long and animated debate that still continues, the constitutional validity of death penalty was challenged in the SC. The court, while upholding its constitutionality, ruled that it should be awarded in the rarest of rare cases."

"Kasab's case was an obvious example of a rarest of rare case, in which a depraved terrorist engaged in war against the Indian state, and ruthlessly killed innumerable people," he said, adding that the perpetrator of such a grave onslaught on the nation and its people "deserved no other sentence".