The Delhi High Court on Monday issued a notice to Kashmiri separatist leader and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik on a plea by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to award the death penalty to him in connection with a terror funding case.
A two-judge division bench, composed of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh, asked Malik to respond to the plea by the NIA. The court also directed for his physical appearance on the next date of hearing, i.e. August 9, 2023.
The court also sought the recommendations of the Law Commission on the death penalty and also issued the warrant for production of the jailed leader, currently serving a life term.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the NIA, informed the high court that Malik had carried out the sensational killing of four Indian Air Force personnel and that his outfit had abducted Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then home minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. This had resulted in the release of dreaded terrorists who subsequently carried out the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, he claimed.
"If such dreaded terrorists are not given capital punishment only on the ground that they have pleaded guilty, then it will result in the complete erosion of the sentencing policy of the country. This is a rarest of rare case and he (Malik) should therefore be sentenced to the gallows," Mehta told the court.
After the hearing, the court also summoned the trial court records.
In its plea, the NIA said, "Not giving capital punishment to such dreaded terrorists will result in a miscarriage of justice, as, an act of terrorism is not a crime against society, but a crime against the entire nation. In other words, it’s an act of external aggression, an act of war and an affront to the sovereignty of the nation.”
On May 25, 2022, a Delhi court had sentenced Malik to life imprisonment in the case related to terror activities and funding, saying he was convicted of crimes of a very serious nature intended to strike at the heart of the idea of India and to forcefully secede J&K. It had, however, rejected the NIA's plea to send the convict to the gallows.
Malik had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges levelled against him in the case.
On May 30, 2017, the NIA had lodged the case related to the raising, receiving and collecting funds domestically and abroad through various illegal channels, including Hawala for funding terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The agency filed the charge sheet in the matter on January 18, 2018.