Srinagar, Aug 11 (IANS) The division bench of the Delhi High Court on Monday asked JKLF leader Yasin Malik to file his response to the plea filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking his death penalty in a terror funding case for which he is undergoing a life sentence at present.
A division bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Shalinder Kaur granted four weeks to Malik to file his response to the NIA’s petition.
The court posted the hearing for November 10. Malik, who previously sought to argue in person against NIA’s plea seeking the enhancement, was supposed to appear virtually from jail, but wasn’t produced.
Yasin Malik is serving life imprisonment in Tihar Jail at present in this terror funding case. The NIA, not satisfied with the Judgement of the trial court, has filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court for the capital punishment of Malik.
The division bench of the Delhi High Court noted that neither was Malik produced virtually in the proceedings from jail, nor did he file his reply to NIA’s plea in pursuance of the court’s August 9, 2024, order.
Malik, on August 9, was directed to be produced virtually and not physically due to a security threat.
On Monday, the bench directed the jail authorities to produce him virtually on November 10.
Malik last year turned down the court’s suggestion to appoint a lawyer on his behalf and said he wished to argue the case in person.
On May 29, 2023, the high court issued notice to Malik on the NIA’s plea seeking the death penalty. Tihar Jail authorities filed an application seeking permission for his virtual appearance on the grounds that he was a very high-risk prisoner and it was imperative not to produce him physically in court to maintain public order and safety.
The request was allowed by the high court.
On May 24, 2022, a trial court sentenced Malik to life imprisonment after holding him guilty of offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and IPC.
Malik had pleaded guilty to the charges, including those under the UAPA and was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Appealing against the sentence, the NIA emphasised that a terrorist cannot be sentenced to a life term only because he has pleaded guilty and chosen not to go through trial.
While seeking enhancement of the sentence to the death penalty, the NIA said if such dreaded terrorists are not given capital punishment on account of pleading guilty, there would be complete erosion of the sentencing policy and terrorists would have a way out to avoid capital punishment.
The trial court, which rejected the NIA’s plea for the death penalty, had said the crimes committed by Malik struck at the “heart of the idea of India” and were intended to forcefully secede Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India.
Yasin Malik is also under trial in the murder of four IAF personnel, including Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna and injuries to 22 others on January 25, 1990, in Srinagar city.
A retired IAF officer, a key eye-witness of the prosecution in this case, has identified Malik as the shooter who killed four IAF officers and injured 22 others.
The retired officer pointed to Malik in the courtroom as the main shooter. Malik attended the court proceedings on video from Delhi’s Tihar Jail, where he has been incarcerated since 2019 in a terror funding case.
The eyewitness deposed before the court that they were all standing by the roadside when Yasin Malik appeared on the scene, lifted his ‘Pheran’ (Kashmiri over garment) and opened indiscriminate fire from an automatic rifle.
–IANS
sq/dpb
