Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik has been given a life imprisonment by a Delhi court in a terror funding case today. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought death penalty for convicted Kashmiri separatist and chief of banned Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik in a terror funding case, as per the report of news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, the court had formally framed the charges against Kashmiri separatist leaders including Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, Md Yusuf Shah, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Md Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, and Naval Kishore Kapoor. The charge sheet was also filed against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, who have been declared proclaimed offenders (PO) in the case.
Malik was convicted last week by a Delhi court after he pleaded guilty to charges related to terror funding, spreading terrorism and secessionist activities in Kashmir in 2017. The agency made the submission before special judge Praveen Singh, while the amicus curiae appointed by the court to assist Malik sought life imprisonment – the minimum punishment in the matter. The court’s verdict on the quantum of sentence for Malik is expected later in the day.
He had told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him that included sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act) and 20 (being a member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the IPC. Ahead of the verdict, a spontaneous shutdown in parts of Srinagar is in place. Security forces have also been deployed in the city to avoid any law and order problems, as per the news agency PTI.
Most of the shops and business establishments in Maisuma and adjoining areas, including some shops in Lal Chowk, were shut, PTI added citing officials. Meanwhile, Malik said that if Indian Intelligence can prove that he had been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in the last 28 years, then he would retire from politics, and will also accept the hanging. After hearing the arguments, the court had earlier reserved its order and pronounced it later today.
