Court frames charges against Yasin Malik, 6 others in 1990 killing of IAF personnel
Accused plead “not guilty”
Jammu, Mar 16: A special court here on Monday farmed charges against chief of the banned JKLF Yasin Malik and six others in a 30-year-old case of gunning down of IAF personnel on the outskirts of Srinagar.
On Monday, the court ordered framing of charges against all the seven accused after hearing the CBI as well as defence counsel, they said.
The accused were produced before the court through video-conferencing as Malik is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in connection with a case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for alleged terror funding of separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
A note for signature of Malik had also been sent to him at Tihar Jail as he was present throughout the trial through video-conferencing, the officials said.
However, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik and six other accused on Monday pleaded “not guilty” in the killing of five IAF personnel in Srinagar in 1990.
“I do not plead guilty. It is a fabricated case,” he said, when Special judge NIA Subash Gupta read out the charges to him through video conferencing and asked him whether he pleaded guilty, or he wanted to face trial. The judge fixed the date of hearing on March 30.
On Saturday, the NIA court charged Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik and six others — Ali Mohammad Mir, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mustafa, Javed Ahmed Mir alias Nalka, Nanaji alias Saleem, Javed Ahmed Zargar and Showkat Ahmed Bakshi.
The seven accused were also charged with criminal conspiracy, murder attempt and under provisions of TADA and the Arms Act.
Referring to the CBI chargesheet, including documentary and oral evidence, Special NIA Judge Subhash Gupta observed that “on mild sifting and evaluating the confessional statements of the accused” recorded under Section 164 of CrPC and Section 15 of TADA, “it can safely be considered as incriminating material against all the accused as they have divulged about the hatching of criminal conspiracy punishable under Section 120-B of Ranbir Penal Code and they further confessed that in furtherance of which, crime was committed by them in the present matter”.
The judge has also directed the jail superintendents to produce both the accused — Yasin Malik and Showkat Ahmed Bakshi — through video conference on March 16. Nanaji alias Saleem and Javed Ahmed Mir were granted exemption from personal appearance on Saturday. The JKLF leader is under trial for the alleged killing of four IAF personnel in January 1990 and for kidnapping Rubaiyya Sayeed, the daughter of former state home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
