Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only person captured during the attacks, was charged last month with 12 criminal counts, including murder and waging war against India, and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Nine other attackers were killed during the three-day siege in November, which left 164 people dead.

“I will defend him,” Anjali Waghmare, the attorney, told reporters in Mumbai.

Waghmare said about 300 protesters threw stones at her Mumbai home and chanted angry slogans after she agreed Monday to represent Kasab during trial proceedings. The 40-year-old lawyer said the state government, which appointed her to be Kasab’s lawyer, has agreed to provide security for her.

“I am doing this in the interest of justice. They (the protesters) should appreciate this,” Waghmare said.

Judge M.L. Tahiliyani will conduct Kasab’s trial at a special court set up in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail, where the suspect is being held.

Tahiliyani has told Kasab that his lawyer will assist him in reading legal documents, which are in the local Marathi language and English. Kasab only understands Urdu, a language commonly spoken in Pakistan.

India has blamed the Mumbai attacks on Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist militant group widely believed to be created by Pakistani intelligence agencies in the 1980s to fight Indian rule in the divided Kashmir region.

Last month, Pakistani officials acknowledged that the attacks were partly plotted on their soil and announced criminal proceedings against eight suspects. They also acknowledged that Kasab is a Pakistani national.

Police have also filed charges against two Indian citizens suspected of aiding the attackers.