NIA Moves Delhi High Court Seeking Death Penalty For Yasin Malik In Terror Funding Case

The National Investigation Agency has moved the Delhi High Court seeking death penalty for Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik who was convicted in connection with a terror funding case.

A division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh will hear the matter on Monday.

Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special NIA court in May last year. He had pleaded guilty in the case and did not contest to the charges against him.

While awarding him life sentence, Special Judge Praveen Singh had observed that the crime failed the test of rarest of rare case as held by the Apex Court.

The judge had also rejected Malik's submission that he had followed Gandhian principle of non violence and was spear heading a peaceful non violent struggle.

"However, the evidence on the basis of which charges were framed and to which convict has pleaded guilty, speaks otherwise. The entire movement was planned to be a violent movement and large scale violence ensued is a matter of fact. I must observe here that the convict cannot invoke the Mahatma and claim to be his follower because in Mahatma Gandhi's principles, there was no place for violence, howsoever high the objective might be," the special judge had said.

The court had framed charges against Malik and others under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the case, in March last year.

Others who were charged and claimed trial were Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Salahuddin, Rashid Engineer, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmad Shah @ Fantoosh, Nayeem Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar @ Bitta Karate.

However, the Court had discharged three men namely Kamran Yusuf, Javed Ahmad Bhatt and Syeda Aasiya Firdous Andrabi.

Title: STATE (NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY) v. MOHD YASIN MALIK