New Delhi. The Supreme Court, while hearing the kidnapping case against Jammu and Kashmir separatist leader Yasin Malik, on Thursday remarked that Ajmal Kasab also got a chance to get a fair trial in ‘our’ country. The court also indicated that it may set up a courtroom in Tihar Jail to hear the case.
Justice Abhay S. A bench of Justice Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih was hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) plea against the September 20, 2022 order of a lower court in Jammu, in which Malik, who is serving life imprisonment in Tihar jail, was released by the then Home Minister. In the kidnapping case of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya Sayeed, the prosecution witnesses were directed to appear physically for cross-examination.
The bench, however, said, “How will the cross-examination be conducted through online medium? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu…In our country, Ajmal Kasab was also given a fair trial and he was given legal aid in the High Court.” The bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, to seek instructions regarding the total number of witnesses in the case.
Mehta raised security issues and said that Malik cannot be taken to Jammu for hearing.
The Solicitor General accused Malik of “manipulation” by appearing in person and not hiring a lawyer. Mehta said Malik is no ordinary criminal and also showed a purported photograph of Malik sharing the stage with terrorist Hafiz Saeed. The top court said that it can order the concerned judge to come to the national capital to hear the case, besides ordering the hearing inside the jail.
However, the bench said that before passing any order, the side of all the accused in the case should be heard. Mehta said security concerns had arisen ahead of Malik’s personal appearance in the Supreme Court. The bench said that Malik can be allowed to appear virtually in the apex court proceedings. Along with this, it fixed the date of November 28 for the next hearing of the case.
Meanwhile, CBI has been directed to amend its petition and make all the accused as respondents.
Mehta had written a letter to then Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in 2023, pointing out “serious security lapses” after Malik was brought to the Supreme Court to appear in a case. Malik, who is serving life imprisonment in a terrorism-financing case, was brought to the high-security Supreme Court complex in a prison van under the protection of armed security personnel without the apex court’s permission.
Expressing surprise at his presence, Mehta had informed the Supreme Court that there is a process to allow high-risk convicts to appear in the courtroom to present their case in person. The CBI said that 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 Supreme Court had issued notices on the CBI’s appeal on April 24, 2023, following which the jailed JKLF chief wrote a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2023, seeking permission to appear in person to present his case. Asked.
Mehta cited the arguments made in the CBI’s petition 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 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the state government can punish some people. Can direct not to go out of the confines of the jail.
A special TADA (Terrorist and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) court in Jammu on September 20, 2022 directed Malik to physically appear before it at the next hearing to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case. The CBI challenged the lower court order in the apex 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 was released five days later when the then VP Singh government at the Center released five terrorists in return. Rubaiya now lives in Tamil Nadu. She is a prosecution witness of CBI. CBI took over this case in the early nineties. Malik is lodged in Tihar jail after being sentenced in a terror financing case by a special NIA court in May 2023.