The Supreme Court on Thursday commented and indicated that it may set up a courtroom inside Tihar Jail for the trial of Jammu and Kashmir separatist leader Yasin Malik in a kidnapping case, even in our country Ajmal Kasab was also given a chance for a fair trial.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was hearing the CBI’s plea against the Jammu trial court’s September 20, 2022 order, allowing Malik, who is serving life imprisonment in Tihar jail, to be physically produced for cross-examination. Was directed to appear. Prosecution witness in the kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
However, the bench remarked, “How will the cross-examination be conducted online? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu… In our country, Ajmal Kasab also got a fair trial and was given legal aid in the High Court. The bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, to take instructions on the total number of witnesses in the case.
Mehta pointed to security concerns and said Malik could not be taken to Jammu for trial.
The law officer accused Malik of “maneuvering” him by asking him to appear in person and not appointing a lawyer. Mehta said Malik was not an ordinary criminal and showed a purported photograph of Malik sharing the stage with terrorist Hafiz Saeed.
The apex court said it can order the trial to be conducted inside the jail apart from the judge coming to the national capital for the proceedings.
However, the bench said that all the accused persons in the case should be heard before passing the order.
Mehta said that Malik, who appeared physically in the Supreme Court, had earlier also raised security concerns.
The bench said Malik may be allowed to appear virtually in the apex court proceedings and adjourned the matter for November 28.
Meanwhile, CBI has been directed to amend its petition and include all the accused persons as respondents.
In 2023, after Malik was brought to the Supreme Court to appear in a case, Mehta had written to the then Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, informing him of a “serious security lapse”.
Malik, who is serving life imprisonment in a terror funding case, was brought to the high-security apex court complex in a prison van guarded by armed security personnel without the court’s permission.
Expressing surprise at his presence, Mehta informed the top court that there is a process to allow high-risk convicts to personally enter the courtroom to argue their case.
The CBI said Malik, a top leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, is a threat to national security and cannot be allowed to be taken out of the Tihar jail complex.
The top court issued notice on the CBI’s appeal on April 24, 2023, following which the jailed JKLF chief wrote a letter to the Supreme Court Registrar on May 26, 2023, seeking personal appearance to plead his case. Asked permission.
An assistant registrar accepted his request on July 18, 2023, and said the apex court would pass the necessary orders – Tihar jail authorities allegedly misjudged the decision to allow Malik to appear and argue his case .
Mehta referred to the CBI’s contention in its appeal against the trial court’s order to bring Malik to Jammu for personal examination of witnesses in the kidnapping case and said that under Section 268 of the CrPC, the state government has directed some people not to do so. Can give. Transferred from jail limits.
On September 20, 2022, a special TADA court in Jammu directed Malik to appear physically at the next hearing to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case.
The CBI challenged the trial court order in the Supreme Court as appeals in TADA cases are heard only by the apex court.
Rubaiya was abducted near Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar on December 8, 1989 and released five days after the then BJP-backed VP Singh government at the Center released five terrorists in exchange.
Mufti, who now lives in Tamil Nadu, is a prosecution witness for the CBI, which took over the case in the early 1990s.
Malik is lodged in Tihar jail after being sentenced by a special NIA court in a terror-funding case in May, 2023.
