The Delhi High Court on Monday sought Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik’s response to a plea filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking the death penalty for him in a terror funding case.
The division bench, comprising Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Shalinder Kaur, granted Malik four weeks to file his response to the petition. The court has listed the next hearing for November 10.
Malik had sought to argue the NIA’s plea seeking the death penalty in person and was likely to appear via teleconferencing from jail, but he was not produced. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief is lodged in Tihar Jail, where he is serving a life sentence in the case related to terror funding.
The court noted that Malik failed to appear before the court virtually during the proceedings and also failed to reply to the plea sought by the NIA on August 9, 2024.
Last year, Malik turned down the court’s suggestion to appoint a lawyer on his behalf, insisting that he wished to argue the case in person. On May 29, 2023, the high court issued a notice to Malik on the NIA’s plea seeking the death penalty against him.
The jail authorities filed an application seeking permission for his virtual appearance on the grounds that he was a “very high-risk prisoner” and it was imperative not to physically produce him in court to maintain public order and safety. The request was later accepted by the high court.
Earlier, on May 24, 2022, the court sentenced Malik to life imprisonment after finding him guilty under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court, which rejected the NIA’s plea for the death penalty, had argued that crimes committed by Malik struck at “the heart of the idea of India” and were aimed at forcibly seceding Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India.
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