NIA Plea for Death Sentence to Yasin Malik: Delhi High Court Postpones Hearing to May

The NIA has been pursuing a petition in the Delhi High Court against convicted terrorist Yasin Malik, saying that Section 121 of IPC provides for death penalty in case of waging war against the Indian Government. The court postponed the hearing on the NIA plea to May as the bench hearing this terror funding case was not available today.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has postponed the hearing on the plea for death sentence to Yasin Malik, who was convicted in murder and terror funding cases, to May. The bench hearing this case was not available on Wednesday, due to which this hearing has been postponed.

On May 25, 2022, the Patiala House Court had sentenced Yasin Malik to life imprisonment after he was convicted in murder and terror funding cases. It also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh under Section 17 of UAPA, ten years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 18, ten years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 20. The court had said that all these punishments given to Yasin Malik will run concurrently.

This means that the maximum punishment of life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10 lakh will be effective. On May 10, 2022, Yasin Malik had confessed to his crime. On March 16, 2022, the court arrested Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah and Masrat Alam, Rashid Engineer, Zahoor Ahmed Watali, Bitta Karate, Aftaaf Ahmed Shah, Avtar Ahmed Shah, Naeem Khan, Bashir Ahmed Butt alias Peer Saifullah and others.

Earlier, after hearing the petition of NIA, the High Court had issued notice to Yasin Malik on 29 May 2023. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of NIA, had said that the trial court had found the allegations against Yasin Malik to be true. Mehta said that under Section 121 of the Indian Penal Code, there is a provision for death penalty in case of waging war against the Government of India and such a criminal should get death penalty.

Mehta had said that Yasin Malik was involved in the murder of four Air Force soldiers. His associates kidnapped Rubia Saeed, daughter of the then Home Minister. After that his kidnappers were released, who later carried out the Mumbai bomb blasts. The High Court asked whether there is any mention of the murder of 4 Air Force officers in the order of the trial court. Mehta had said that the case of murder of four Air Force officers is not in the copy of the verdict.

According to NIA, organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, JKLF, Jaish-e-Mohammed, with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI, carried out attacks and violence on civilians and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. In 1993, All Party Hurriyat Conference was established to carry out separatist activities.

According to NIA, Hafid Saeed along with leaders of Hurriyat Conference transacted money to carry out terrorist activities through Hawala and other channels. This money was used to create unrest in the valley, attack security forces, burn schools and damage public property. After receiving this information from the Home Ministry, NIA had registered a case under various sections of the UAPA.

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