New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to jailed Kashmir separatist leader Yasin Malik on the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) appeal seeking death penalty for him in a terror funding case.
The NIA had approached the Delhi High Court after a trial court last year sentenced the separatist leader to life imprisonment in the case.
Malik had told the trial court that he was not contesting the charges against him that included acts of terrorism and sedition under Section 121, the maximum punishment of which is a death sentence.
The high Court said Monday: “Since the sole respondent Yasin Malik, inter alia, has pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 121 IPC which provides for an alternate death sentence, we issue notice to him in both the application (for condonation of delay) and the appeal to be served through jail superintendent.”
Section 121 says whoever “wages war against the Government of India, or attempts to wage such war, or abets the waging of such war, shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to a fine”.
The next date of hearing has been fixed for 9 August.
On 24 May, 2022, the trial court rejected the NIA’s plea for capital punishment, but held the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief guilty of various offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the IPC.
Sentencing him to life, the trial court 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.
The trial court said: “The crime becomes more serious as it was committed with the assistance of foreign powers and designated terrorists. The seriousness of the crime is further increased by the fact that it was committed behind the smokescreen of an alleged peaceful political movement.”
But the court noted the case was not the “rarest of rare”, which would warrant a death penalty.
The life term was awarded for two offences – IPC Section 121 (waging war against the government of India) and Section 17 (raising funds for terrorist act) of the UAPA.
The court had given Malik a 10-year jail term each under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against the government of India) of IPC and Sections 15 (terrorism), 18 (conspiracy for terrorism) and 20 (being a member of terror organisation) of UAPA.
It also awarded five-year jail terms each under Sections 13 (unlawful act), 38 (offence related to membership of terrorism) and 39 (support given to terrorism) of UAPA.
The court had framed charges against Kashmiri separatist leaders including Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, Md Yusuf Shah, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Md Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Abdul Rashid Sheikh and Naval Kishore Kapoor.
A charge sheet was also filed against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, both of whom have been declared proclaimed offenders in the case and are living in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the Hurriyat Conference has said the NIA’s plea for a death penalty was “deeply disturbing” for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
In an e-mailed statement this Sunday, the Hurriyat alleged this was a “deliberate attempt” to provoke and intimidate people.
“Unfortunately, such directives and decrees are brought in by the authorities — who claim peace and development as their agenda which seems to be a deliberate attempt to provoke and intimidate people and add to their concerns and fears,” the separatist forum added.