SRINAGAR (Kashmir English): The Delhi High Court has sought a formal reply from the illegally incarcerated Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Muhammad Yasin Malik, on the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) plea seeking death penalty for him in a politically-motivated and fabricated case.
According to Kashmir Media Service, a division bench comprising Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Shalinder Kaur ordered Malik to submit his reply within four weeks and fixed November 10 as the next date of hearing in the case.
Special counsel for the NIA, Advocate Akshai Malik, referred to a previous court order dated August 9, 2024, under which Yasin Malik had chosen to represent himself and appear virtually before the court.
The bench observed that Malik did not appear virtually on Monday and directed prison authorities to ensure his virtual presence during the next hearing.
Yasin Malik currently serving a life sentence
Yasin Malik is currently serving a life sentence handed down by a trial court in May 2022 in a case widely condemned by rights bodies as a judicial travesty.
In the same case, charges were framed in March 2022 against other senior political leaders of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, including Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Engineer Abdul Rasheed, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, and Farooq Ahmad Dar.
Political observers are of the opinion that the NIA’s bid to seek the death penalty for Yasin Malik is part of India’s wider strategy to eliminate the genuine political leadership of Jammu and Kashmir through fabricated charges, prolonged incarceration, and judicial harassment, aimed at silencing the voice of resistance against New Delhi’s illegal occupation.
