Arguing for the death penalty to be awarded to Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, the Solicitor General on Monday equated him with slain terrorist Osama Bin Laden.
SG Tushar Mehta appearing for the National Investigation Agency argued that the JKLF chief tactfully pleaded guilty to evade maximum punishment. “He is tactfully pleading guilty,” Mehta told a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh.
However, the court said that it’s his “fundamental right”. Responding to this remark, Mehta equated Malik’s condition to that of Osama bin Laden.
“By that logic, If Osama bin Laden was before this court, he would also get the same treatment…USA was possibly right…” said Mehta.
“Mr Solicitor, Osama bin Laden never faced a trial anywhere,” said the judge.
The NIA also argued before the high court that Malik was the chief of JKLF and this organisation was responsible for secessionist activities in the Kashmir Valley.
“He was the chief of JKLF. This organisation came into existence as a terrorist organisation in early 90s and was responsible for secessionist activities…Malik crossed over to Pakistan in 1980s to receive training in handling weapons and ISI helped him to become head of JKLF,” said Mehta.
The NIA also argued that it’s majorly “aggrieved” that this could allow anyone to commit such acts and plead guilty. “What we are majorly aggrieved of is that any terrorist can come here and plead guilty and the court will say that I plead guilty. Anyone would come here and face trial and plead guilty…” said Mehta.
Explaining the charges against Malik, he argued, “His outfit abducted Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then home minister. This resulted in release of dreaded terrorists who then carried out the 26/11, Mumbai attacks.”
The court has now issued a notice to Malik, who is serving a life sentence in the Tihar Jail, and sought his response over the appeal filed by the NIA.
The high court also issued production warrants against Malik seeking his presence on the next date of hearing, i.e., August 9.
The NIA in its appeal has stated that Yasin Malik, over decades, had been involved in and spearheading terrorist activities in the Valley. He did this with the help of foreign terrorist organisations; he masterminded, planned, engineered, and executed an armed rebellion in the Valley in a bid to usurp the sovereignty and integrity of India, the central agency added.
In 2022, the Special NIA court, while awarding life imprisonment to the Jammu and Kashmir separatist leader, noted that “he may have dropped the gun in 1994 but never regretted the violence”.
“…there was no reformation of this convict. It may be correct that the convict may have given up the gun in the year 1994, but he had never expressed any regret for the violence he had committed prior to the year 1994,” said Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh.
The court had also noted that even after the Indian government gave him an opportunity to reform and in good faith, tried to engage in a meaningful dialogue with him, Malik did not desist from violence and rather betrayed the good intentions of the government.
The conviction and the subsequent sentencing came in a case registered by the NIA in 2017. The central agency highlighted that Malik had formed the Joint Resistance Leadership along with Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq in 2016 to support the cause of J&K’s secession from India.
It alleged that the secessionists were mobilising funds from all possible sources including the Hawala network to fuel unrest and support the terrorist activities in J&K. Maintaining that Malik had played a key role in orchestrating protests, it cited his Facebook chat to show that stone-pelting incidents were part of a well-planned conspiracy.
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