The Delhi High Court has asked Yasin Malik to respond within four weeks to the NIA’s plea seeking to convert his life sentence into a death penalty in a 2017 terror funding case. The next hearing is scheduled for November 10.
New Delhi: On August 11, the Delhi High Court on Monday asked Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik to reply to the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) request to change his life imprisonment into a death sentence in a 2017 terror funding case.
The court’s division bench, made up of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Shalinder Kaur, gave Malik four weeks to submit his response. The next hearing will be on November 10.
During the hearing, NIA’s special counsel, Advocate Akshai Malik, reminded the court about an earlier order dated August 9, 2024, in which Yasin Malik had said he wanted to fight his own case without a lawyer.
The same order had also said that Malik should appear through video conferencing because of security concerns. However, Malik did not attend the latest hearing online. This made the judges repeat their order for him to be present through video conferencing next time.
In 2022, Malik was given life imprisonment after he admitted guilt under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The trial court had decided that the case did not fall under the Supreme Court’s “rarest of rare” category that allows the death penalty.
The court also rejected Malik’s claim that he was leading a non-violent, Gandhian-style movement.
The NIA’s case was filed in 2017, accusing Malik and others of working with terrorist groups based in Pakistan to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.
In March 2022, charges were framed against Malik and several others, including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, Rashid Engineer, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmad Shah (also known as Fantoosh), Nayeem Khan, and Farooq Ahmad Dar (also known as Bitta Karate).
Three people — Kamran Yusuf, Javed Ahmad Bhatt, and Syeda Aasiya Firdous Andrabi — were cleared of charges and discharged from the case.
In another related update, a UAPA Tribunal led by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna of the Delhi High Court recently agreed with the Union Home Ministry’s decision to continue the ban on the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) for five more years.
The original ban was put in place in 2019 and was renewed on March 15, 2024. The tribunal said, “no tolerance” should be shown toward organisations that openly support the idea of breaking away from India.
Also Read: “Gave up arms, I’m a Gandhian Now”: Separatist Yasin Malik to UAPA Tribunal
The tribunal also questioned Malik’s statement that he had given up armed struggle in 1994. Evidence was presented showing his alleged trips to terrorist training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and his role in collecting illegal funds to support violent activities and protests in the Kashmir Valley.
According to the NIA’s 2018 charge sheet, there was a leadership structure inside the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), in which SAS Geelani, Yasin Malik, and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were identified as the main leaders under the name “Joint Resistance Leadership.”
CASE TITLE:
NIA v. Yasin Malik
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