The Delhi High Court has listed April 22, 2026, to hear the National Investigation Agency’s appeal seeking death penalty for Yasin Malik. The court granted four weeks to the NIA to file its response, observing that there was “no urgency” as Malik is already serving a life sentence.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) granted four weeks to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file its response to a detailed reply submitted by separatist leader Yasin Malik in the agency’s appeal seeking the death penalty for him in a terror funding case. The matter has now been listed for final hearing on April 22, 2026.
Yasin Malik appeared before the court through video conferencing from Tihar Jail, where he is currently serving a life sentence awarded in the same case.
During the hearing, Malik accused the NIA of deliberately delaying the proceedings and alleged that the agency was causing him mental distress by repeatedly seeking adjournments in an appeal that was filed as far back as 2023.
Malik told the court that the agency was “wasting time” and subjecting him to “trauma” by “taking dates” in the matter for the last several years. Responding to these allegations, a Division Bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja made it clear that there was no immediate urgency in the appeal.
Rejecting Malik’s grievance, the Bench observed,
“There is no urgency. This is for enhancement of sentence. You are already on life sentence,”
thereby indicating that the appeal filed by the NIA seeks only an increase in punishment and does not affect Malik’s current incarceration status.
The NIA’s counsel informed the court that Malik had filed a very lengthy reply to the agency’s appeal, parts of which contained material that was “not related” to the case. He submitted that the agency’s rejoinder was still under the process of vetting and therefore additional time was required.
The counsel also strongly objected to Malik’s allegation that the NIA was repeatedly seeking adjournments. He pointed out that Malik himself had taken nearly one year to file his reply to the appeal after it was instituted by the agency.
The NIA further informed the High Court that it was seeking an in-camera hearing in the matter, citing the sensitive nature of the case and the national security issues involved.
It may be recalled that a trial court in Delhi, by its judgment dated May 24, 2022, had awarded life imprisonment to Yasin Malik, who is the chief of the banned outfit Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). He was held guilty of multiple offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as well as the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In 2023, the NIA approached the Delhi High Court challenging the life sentence awarded to Malik and sought enhancement of the punishment to the maximum penalty of death.
In its appeal, the NIA argued that if such “dreaded terrorists” are spared capital punishment merely because they plead guilty, it would result in the complete erosion of the country’s sentencing policy. The agency contended that terrorists would then have a convenient escape route to avoid the death penalty by strategically pleading guilty.
The NIA further asserted that a life sentence is not proportionate to the seriousness of terrorist crimes, especially when the nation and families of soldiers have suffered grave losses of life. It stated that the trial court’s conclusion that Malik’s case did not fall under the category of the “rarest of the rare cases” was “ex-facie legally flawed and completely unsustainable”.
In his detailed reply filed before the High Court, Malik claimed that he had spent nearly three decades as a key participant in what he described as a state-sanctioned “backchannel” mechanism.
According to him, this mechanism involved working closely with successive Prime Ministers, intelligence officials, and even business tycoons with the aim of fostering peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Through an 85-page affidavit, Malik traced his personal journey from his school days to his alleged links with militant groups and detailed his meetings with several political leaders over the years. He alleged that the State was now attempting to “erase” this history of engagement and dialogue.
Concluding his reply, Malik stated,
“being a scapegoat in politics isn’t a new thing, it’s a kind of a new normal but being a sacrificial goat is something which goes beyond the shard of high handedness of morality, if at all politics had one”.
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