New Delhi: Jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik on Friday said in the Supreme Court that he was a “political leader and not a terrorist” and claimed seven Prime Ministers had engaged in a dialogue with him in the past.
Appearing via video-conferencing before a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, Malik referred to the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, that there were photos of him alongside terrorist Hafiz Saeed and it was covered by all national and regional dailies and television channels
“This statement has created a public narrative against me. The union government has not listed my organisation as a terrorist organisation under UAPA. It is pertinent to note that post a unilateral ceasefire in 1994, I was not only provided bail in 32 cases but none of the cases were pursued,” Malik said.
He added, “During the dispensation of Prime Ministers P V Narasimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda, Inder Kumar Gujral, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Dr Manmohan Singh and even the first five years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they all followed the letter of ceasefire. Now suddenly the present dispensation in its second term has started trial of 35-year-old militant cases against me. This is against the very ceasefire agreement.”
Mehta argued the ceasefire was of no relevance in the present case.
The bench said it was not adjudicating the merits of the case and only deciding whether he should be allowed to cross-examine witnesses virtually.
Malik said he was replying to the CBI’s argument that he could not be physically produced before the Jammu Court as he was a “dreaded terrorist”.
“CBI’s objection is that I am a security threat. I am responding to that. I am not a terrorist and only a political leader. Seven PMs have engaged with me. There is not a single FIR against me and my organisation supporting or providing any kind of hideout to any militant. There are FIRs against me but they are all related to my non-violent political protests,” he said.
The top court refused him to physically appear in a couple of cases being tried in Jammu against him but asked him to cross-examine witnesses virtually from Tihar Jail.
The order came in a matter where the CBI has sought the transfer of the trials in the 1989 case of the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former union minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and the 1990 Srinagar shootout case, from Jammu to New Delhi.
The CBI also challenged the September 20, 2022 order of a Jammu trial court directing lifer Malik to be produced before it physically to cross-examine prosecution witnesses in the abduction case.
SC asks Malik to examine witnesses virtually
The Supreme Court on Friday refused the physical production of jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik before a Jammu court but allowed him to cross-examine witnesses in a couple of cases through the virtual mode.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan observed the Centre’s order of December 2024 under Section 303 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act restricting his movement from the NCT of Delhi for a year.
The bench, therefore, found Malik’s physical production inappropriate in light of the prohibitory order.
The order came in the matter where CBI sought transfer of the trials in the 1989 case of the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former union minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and the 1990 Srinagar shootout case, from Jammu to New Delhi.
The CBI’s plea before the court challenged the September 20, 2022 order of a Jammu trial court directing lifer Malik to be produced before it physically to cross-examine prosecution witnesses in the abduction case.
The CBI said he was a threat to national security and couldn’t be allowed to be taken outside the Tihar jail premises.
The top court also took into account the reports filed by the Delhi High Court registrar (IT) the registrar general of the Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh High Court on the availability of the video-conferencing facilities in Tihar jail and Jammu, respectively.
The top court noted the Jammu sessions court was “well-equipped” with the virtual system.
It recorded Malik’s submission that he did not want to engage a lawyer for cross-examining the witnesses.
The top court observed Section 530 of the BNSS says trials, inquiries, and proceedings, including the issuance, service, and execution of summons and warrants, can be held in electronic mode, using electronic communication or audio-video means.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that Malik was a security risk and cannot be taken to the Jammu court physically.
The top court had previously directed the registrar general of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to ensure proper video-conferencing facilities at the Jammu special court while hearing two cases against Malik and others.
The top court on December 18, last year, gave six accused two weeks to respond to the CBI’s plea to transfer the trial of the cases.
The plea is over the two cases in which four Indian Air Force personnel were killed on January 25, 1990 in Srinagar and the abduction which took place on December 8, 1989.
Malik, chief of the proscribed JKLF, is facing trial in both cases.
Rubaiya, who was freed five days after her abduction when the then BJP-backed V P Singh government at the Centre released five terrorists in exchange, now lives in Tamil Nadu. She is a prosecution witness for the CBI, which took over the case in the early 1990s.
Malik has been lodged in Tihar Central Jail after he was sentenced by a special NIA court in May 2023 in a terror-funding case.
