Yasin Malik Absent From Hearing In NIA Appeal Seeking Death Penalty: Delhi High Court Seeks Tihar Jail Report

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a report of the Tihar Jail Superintendent on the non-appearance of Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik in the appeal moved by National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking death penalty for him in a terror funding case.

A division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Arun Bhardwaj listed the matter in December, noting that Malik did not appear virtually today from Tihar jail.

SPP Akshai Malik appearing for NIA told Court that Yasin Malik had wished to argue the matter himself.

Noting that he did not appear today virtually, the Court said:

“Let a report in this regard be called from the concerned jail superintendent. On the next date, the respondent (Yasin Malik) shall be made to join the proceedings virtually.”

Earlier, the agency had said that Malik's mention of senior politicians and bureaucrats in his response is only for public sympathy and has no bearing to his crime.

For context, Malik had claimed that he had "working relationship" with six consecutive governments since 1990, headed by then Prime Ministers VP Singh, Chandra Shekhar, PV Narsimha Rao, HG Devagauda, Inder Kumar Gujral, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

Yasin claimed he was engaged for dialog on issues pertaining to Kashmir and regional stability, security, progress and peace. "I was actively roped in time and again by the said governments in power and was actively persuaded to speak on international platforms," he said.

Denying the said averments, NIA said: “Rest of the matters related to taking names of Senior Politicians, Media personnel, foreign delegates and Bureaucrats is only for the sake of gaining popularity and to draw sympathy of the public and has no bearing with the merit of the instant case.”

The NIA added that Yasin was well connected with multiple terrorist organizations and with supporters of the terrorist organization LeT. Further, the agency said that mere mention of names of senior politicians and senior bureaucrats does not negate the fact that Yasin Malik had linkages with militant Hafiz Saeed and other militants.

As per the agency, Malik has been afforded ample opportunity to raise such objections at the time of framing of charges against him and prior to the passing of the order on his conviction.

Yasin Malik was awarded life sentence in the case by the trial court in May 2022 for terror funding and conspiring to wage war against India. He had pleaded guilty in the case and did not contest the charges against him.

NIA had then filed an appeal before the High Court seeking death penalty for him.

While awarding the respondent a life sentence, the Special Judge had observed that the crime failed the test of the rarest of rare cases as held by the Apex Court.

The judge had also rejected the respondent's submission that he had followed the Gandhian principle of non-violence and was spearheading a peaceful non-violent struggle.

The court had framed charges against Yasin Malik and various others under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the case, in March 2022.

Others who were charged and claimed trial were Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Salahuddin, Rashid Engineer, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmad Shah @ Fantoosh, Nayeem Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate.

However, the Court had discharged three men namely Kamran Yusuf, Javed Ahmad Bhatt and Syeda Aasiya Firdous Andrabi.