NIA Compares Yasin Malik To Osama Bin Laden While Seeking Death Penalty, Says USA Was Possibly Right In Denying Him Trial

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday compared Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who was sentenced to life in a terror funding case after he plead guilty last year, to Osama Bin Laden and said that the USA was “possibly right” in not giving him a trial.

The submission was made by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta before a division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh during the hearing of NIA's appeal seeking death penalty for Malik in the terror funding case. 

As Mehta said that Malik pleaded guilty “very tactfully”, Justice Mridul orally remarked: “That may be his constitutional right. Ingenuity is not a constitutional right of just lawyers, Mr Solicitor. It is the constitutional right of the litigants (also).”

Mehta then responded:

“By this standard, if Osama Bin Laden would have been tried here, he would have been permitted to plead guilty and then I'd be arguing the question of limitation.”

Justice Mridul said that the court cannot compare Yasin Malik with Osama Bin Laden “because he never stood trial anywhere.”

However, Mehta said: “That is precisely what I am driving at ... that possibly the USA was right.”

Hearing the submission, the court said: “We don't know, Mr Solicitor. We will not comment on that.”

The oral exchange happened as Mehta requested the court to condone the delay in refiling of the appeal by NIA. The court today issued notice on NIA’s appeal and the application seeking condonation of delay and listed the case for hearing on August 09.

As Mehta insisted for condonation of delay, Justice Mridul said that "this we will have to condone but not in this manner. We will hear it and condone it. These are not matters where delay is an impediment in any case".

Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special NIA court in May last year. He had pleaded guilty in the case and did not contest to the charges against him.

While awarding him life sentence, Special Judge Praveen Singh had observed that the crime failed the test of rarest of rare case as held by the Apex Court.

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

Also Read: Delhi High Court Issues Notice On NIA’s Plea Seeking Death Penalty For Yasin Malik In Terror Funding Case