The Supreme Court on Thursday said that it may set up a courtroom inside Tihar Jail for the trial of J&K separatist leader Yasin Malik in an alleged kidnapping case.
The court remarked that even Ajmal Kasab, the 26/11 terror attack convict, was given a fair trial.
A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Auguestine George Masih was hearing a CBI plea against the September 20, 2022 order of a Jammu trial court that directed Malik, serving a life term in Tihar jail, to be produced before it physically to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The bench, however, said, “How will cross-examination be done online? There is barely any connectivity in Jammu. In our country, a fair trial was given even to Ajmal Kasab and legal assistance was given to him in the high court.”
They further told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, to take instructions on the total number of witnesses in the case.
Mehta, in response, said there were security concerns and that Malik couldn’t be taken to Jammu for the trial.
The law officer accused Malik of “playing tricks” for asking to appear personally before the court rather than engaging a lawyer.
Mehta said he was not an ordinary criminal and tried to link Malik with Hafiz Sayeed by sharing a photograph of both sharing a dais together.
While Malik has continuously refused any links and said that Hafiz Sayeed had come to meet him during his hunger strike in Pakistan.
He said several other high-profile Pakistani delegates had come to meet him to express solidarity with the fasting leader.
The top court further said it could order a trial to take place inside the jail besides asking the judge to come to New Delhi for the proceedings.
The bench, however, noted all the accused persons in the matter had to be heard before it passed an order.
Mehta said making the accused appear before the court had raised security concerns previously. Although the court said he could virtually appear in court and listed the matter on November 28.
The CBI in the meantime has been directed to amend its petition and implead all accused persons as respondents.
In 2023, Mehta wrote to then Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, flagging a “serious security lapse” after Malik was brought to the Supreme Court to appear in a case.
Malik, serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case, was brought to the high-security apex court premises in a prison van escorted by armed security personnel without the court’s permission.
On September 20, 2022, a special TADA court in Jammu asked Malik to appear physically before the court for cross-examination of the witnesses in the kidnapping case.
Rubiya Sayeed was kidnapped near Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar on December 8, 1989, and released five days later in exchange for five terrorists by then BJP-backed V P Singh.
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