The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has approached the Delhi High Court to seek the death penalty for Yasin Malik, the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Last year, a trial court had sentenced Yasin Malik to life imprisonment in a terror funding case.
In its appeal, the NIA stated that the nation had suffered irreparable grief due to the crimes committed by terrorists like Yasin Malik, which resulted in the loss of valuable soldiers. It described their actions as acts of war that caused unrest throughout the country.
The NIA further emphasized that Yasin Malik, in collaboration with foreign terrorist organizations, had been involved in leading terrorist activities in Kashmir for several years with the intention of creating unrest in India.
According to the NIA, the crimes committed by the accused were acts of “external aggression” and were meticulously planned and executed as acts of waging war against the nation. They involved creating internal disturbance through the use of trained armed militia within the state and facilitating the entry of trained terrorists from enemy states into India to perpetuate such internal disturbances.
The Division Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh of the Delhi High Court will hear the case on May 29.
Previously, on May 25, the trial court had sentenced Yasin Malik to life imprisonment in a terror funding case. The court stated that there was no evidence of reformation in the convict, although he claimed to have abandoned violence since 1994. The NIA judge mentioned that the government had given him opportunities to reform and engage in dialogue, but he had never expressed remorse for the violence he had committed prior to 1994.
The NIA Court emphasized that the crimes committed by Yasin Malik were of a very serious nature and aimed to challenge the idea of India and forcefully secede Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India. The involvement of foreign powers and designated terrorists further heightened the severity of the crimes. The trial court considered the commission of the crime, the weapons used, and the alleged peaceful political movement as factors indicating the exceptional seriousness of the case.
In addition to life imprisonment, the NIA court imposed a fine of over Rs 10 lakh on Yasin Malik.
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