Delhi HC to hear on Aug 7 plea to virtually produce Yasin Malik in terror funding case

The matter was listed before a division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anish Dayal for hearing on Thursday. But due to non assembly of the bench, it could not be heard.

New Delhi:The Delhi High Court will hear on August 7 the case of presenting Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, convicted in the terror funding case, through video conferencing. The application has been filed by Tihar Jail officials in the High Court. The High Court is hearing an appeal by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking a death sentence for Yasin Malik.

The matter was listed before a division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anish Dayal for hearing on Thursday. But due to non assembly of the bench, it could not be heard. In the application by the jail authorities, amendment has been sought in the order issued on May 29 before the production warrant was issued for August 9. Therefore, the jail authorities have demanded Malik's production through video conferencing citing heavy security issue.

Jail officials said in the application that Malik has been kept in the category of very high-risk prisoners. Therefore it is necessary that he should not be produced physically in order to maintain public order and security. It is noteworthy that Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special NIA court in May last year in the terror funding case.

Malik has allegedly accepted his guilt in the case and did not contest the charges against him. While sentencing him to life imprisonment, Special Judge Praveen Singh had said that the offense did not satisfy the test of rarest of the rare case held by the apex court.

The judge also rejected Malik's argument that he followed the Gandhian principle of non-violence and was leading a peaceful non-violent struggle. In March last year, the court had framed charges against Malik and several other accused in the case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Others who were charged and claimed trial included Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Salahuddin, Rashid Engineer, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmad Shah alias Fantoosh, Naeem Khan and Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate was involved. While the court acquitted three people named Kamran Yusuf, Javed Ahmed Bhatt and Syeda Asiya Firdaus Andrabi.