Indian court fixes Feb 14 to hear plea seeking death penalty for Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik

NEW DELHI, Dec 5 (SABAH): The Delhi High Court has fixed February 14 for hearing a plea filed by India’s dreaded National Investigation Agency seeking death penalty for jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik, languishing in India’s Tihar jail.

According to media reports, the High Court on Tuesday directed the Jail Superintendent of the Jail to produce Yasin Malik through video conferencing.

In August, the court directed the JKLF chairman to be produced before it through video conferencing mode from Tihar Jail instead of physical appearance pursuant to the production warrant issued earlier this year.

“In that view of the matter, the order dated May 29, 2023 is necessarily modified to the extent that the jail superintendent is directed to produce Yasin, the respondent in the present appeal, through video conferencing alone on August 9 and not in person,” the court had ordered.

Subsequently, the Jail Superintendent of Tihar Jail moved the Delhi High Court seeking permission to produce the JKLF chairman from jail through video conferencing on grounds that he was a “very high-risk prisoner” and it was imperative to not physically produce him in court to maintain public order and safety.

He was convicted on May 19, 2022, in connection with a so-called funding and pro-freedom activities case. The sentence was pronounced on May 25, 2022. NIA Judge Praveen Singh sentenced Mailk to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 10 lakhs.

On May 10, having noticed the bias of the Indian judiciary, Muhammad Yasin Malik refused to defend the charges against him in the NIA court. The NIA challenged the court order and sought enhancement of the sentence.

It is believed that India’s Modi government wants to accord death penalty to Muhammad Yasin Malik in a fake case, filed against him decades ago, to win 2024 general elections.