On August 2, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik was ordered to appear in person by the Delhi High Court. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a petition with the court asking for the order to be modified.
In its most recent ruling, the Delhi High Court ordered Yasin Malik to appear in court on August 9, 2023, for the next hearing date in the NIA appeal that sought Yasin Malik’s execution or the death sentence in the case involving the sponsorship of terrorism. Yasin Malik was classified as an extremely high risk prisoner in Tihar Jail in New Delhi, according to the NIA’s plea, and as a result, there is a serious security concern with this case.
In order to preserve the peace and safety of the public, it is essential that the respondent/convict Yasin Malik not be physically brought before this Honourable Court. The NIA said that “He should be permitted to join the proceedings through Video Conferencing.”
On May 29, 2023, the Delhi High Court sent Yasin Malik notice of the NIA appeal asking for the death penalty or the death penalty for him (Yasin Malik) in a case involving financing for terrorism. It is a “rarest of rare” instance, according to NIA.
Yasin Malik was given life in prison by the Trial Court in a case involving financing for terrorism last year. After taking note of the arguments presented, the Division Bench comprising Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh sent Yasin Malik a notice through the jail superintendent since he was being held in Tihar Jail. The court observed that he is the only respondent in the appeal.
During this time, the bench had also issued a production warrant requiring Yasin Malik to appear in court on August 9, 2023, for the next scheduled hearing.
Tushar Mehta, who represented the NIA, said that Yasin Malik was accountable for the murder of four IAF soldiers and the abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed. Additionally, he said that the 26/11 Bombay assaults were planned by four terrorists who were later freed after being kidnapped.
For the NIA, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the accused Malik entered Pakistan in the 1980s to get instruction in the use of firearms. He was assisted by ISI in becoming JKLF’s leader.
In its appeal, NIA argued that if such dreaded terrorists are not given the death penalty solely on the basis that they have pleaded guilty, this will completely undermine the country’s sentencing guidelines and result in the creation of a mechanism by which such dreaded terrorists, after engaging in, waging, and leading a “act of war against the state,” in the event that they are cought, would have a way out to avoid capital punishment.
The NIA also noted in their petition that the nation lost its precious warriors as a result of the feared terrorists’ “act of war” and that they had caused irreparable harm to not just the soldiers’ families but also to the whole country.
According to the NIA, the accused has been engaging in and leading terrorist activities in the valley for decades. With the aid of feared foreign terrorist groups with a stake in India, the accused has also been masterminding, planning, engineering, and carrying out armed rebellion in the valley in an effort to usurp the sovereignty and integrity of a region of India.
Yasin Malik, the head of the JKLF, had previously received a life sentence on May 25, 2022, in a case involving the sponsorship of terrorism. The trial court judge at the time said, “In my opinion, this convict has not been reformated.” Although it may be true that the prisoner gave up the pistol in 1994, he had never showed remorse for the atrocities he had perpetrated earlier in his life.
According to the NIA charge sheet that was submitted in the case, the Central Government had received reliable information that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the Amir of Jammat-ud-Dawah, and the leaders of secessionist and separatist groups, including the members of the Hurriyat Conference, had been working together to raise, receive, and collect money both domestically and abroad through various illegal channels, including hawala.
The NIA also testified before the court that this was done to finance separatist and terrorist activities in J&K and as a result, they had joined a larger conspiracy to cause unrest in the valley by attacking security forces with stones, deliberately setting schools on fire, causing damage to public property, and declaring war on India.
