India to hang Yasin Malik? NIA seeks death penalty for separatist terrorist

New Delhi, May 27: The National Investigation Agency has approached Delhi high court seeking a death sentence for Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik. The petition is listed for hearing on May 29.

 

The separatist leader was awarded life sentence by a special NIA court in a terror funding case in May last year. He was convicted under multiple sections of UAPA and IPC for offences that included waging war against the government of India.

 

 

NIA in its appeal stated that the crime committed by such dreaded terrorists, where due to their 'act of war', the nation has lost its valuable soldiers and has perpetrated irreparable grief not only to the family members of the soldiers but to the entire nation.

 

NIA stated that the respondent/accused over decades has been indulging and spearheading terrorist activities in the valley and with the help of dreaded foreign terrorist organisations, having interest inimical to India, has been masterminding, planning, engineering and executing armed rebellion in the valley in an attempt to usurp the sovereignty and integrity of a part of India.

 

NIA in its appeal before Delhi HC further stated that the offences committed by the respondent accused are ex-facie acts of "external aggression", brazenly planned and executed by "acts of waging war against the nation" whereby "internal disturbance" was created through raising and using trained armed militia within the state and by helping trained terrorist, raised in enemy states, to infiltrate the borders of India to participate and catalyse such internal disturbances.

 

NIA stated that submitted that if such dreaded terrorists are not given capital punishment only on the ground that they have pleaded guilty, then the same will result in complete erosion of the sentencing policy of the country and will result in the creation of a device, whereby, such dreaded terrorist after indulging, waging and spearheading an "act of war against the state", in case caught, would have a way out to avoid capital punishment.

 

The matter is listed before Delhi HC's Division Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh.

 

The hearing is to be held on May 29, 2023.

 

Earlier on May 25, 2023, the trial court Judge sentenced life imprisonment to JKLF leader Yasin Malik in a terror funding case and said, "In my opinion, 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."

 

"It is to be noticed that, when he claimed to have given up the path of violence after the year 1994, the government of India took it at its face value and gave him an opportunity to reform and in good faith, tried to engage in a meaningful dialogue with him and as admitted by him, gave him every platform to express his opinion," said NIA Judge Praveen Singh.

 

The NIA Court further said, "The crimes for which convict has been convicted are of a very serious nature. These crimes were intended to strike at the heart of the idea of India and intended to forcefully sccede J&K from UOI.

 

"The crime becomes more serious as it was committed with the assistance of foreign powers and designated terrorists. The seriousness of the crime is further increased by the fact that it was committed behind the smoke screen of an alleged peaceful political movement," added the trial court.

 

"The manner of the commission of the crime, and the kind of weaponry used in the crime lead me to the conclusion that the crime in question would fail the test of rarest of rare cases," NIA Judge Praveen Singh said.