The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider an application moved by the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) to transfer the trial of terror convict Yasin Malik and former Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief, from a Jammu court to Delhi.
The central probe agency proposed that the trial should be carried via video conferencing in a makeshift courtroom within Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and AG Masih issued notices to Malik, seeking their responses by December 18.
The matter came up after a trial court in Jammu directed Yasin Malik to be present in person for the cross-examination of witnesses in the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed and the killing of four Indian Air Force personnel.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a previous hearing had told the Supreme Court that it cannot go by the book when it comes to someone like Yasin Malik who has had a history of frequent visits to Pakistan and even sharing dias with Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed.
The bench had asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for CBI that how can trial court cross-examine Malik virtually when there is hardly any connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir.
The top court while emphasising the need for a fair trial said that even Ajmal Kasab the 26/11 terror attack convict got a fair trial in India.
“In our country fair trial was given to Ajmal Kasab,” Justice Abhay Oka remarked while hearing the case.
CBI has cited security concerns in opposing the trial court direction for the physical production of Yasin Malik in Jammu court.
SG Mehta said that Malik could not be taken to Jammu for the trial and raised concerns about safety of the witnesses in the case. He further told the court that Yasin Malik was playing tricks by insisting that he would appear personally without engaging a lawyer.
The top court ultimately asked if it was possible to explore in-prison trial for Malik as has been done for previous such cases involving terror accused persons. Today, the CBI told court that there already exists a fully functional court in the jail with all the facilities of video conferencing also if needed. And such proceedings have taken place in past also, SG Mehta told the top court today.
In May 2022, a NIA Court had sentenced Malik to life imprisonment for charges of conspiracy, waging war against the state, terror funding etc. after he pleaded guilty. A seperate plea by the NIA is pending in front of the Delhi High Court seeking death sentence for Malik.
In 2023, the top court had stayed the orders of a Sessions Judge in Jammu who had sought Malik’s physical appearance for cross-examination of witnesses in relation to the killing of four IAF personnel and abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.
