Yasin Malik sentenced to rigorous Life Imprisonment by NIA court in terror funding case

Days after convicting Yasin Malik in a terror funding case, the Special NIA court sentenced the Kashmiri separatist and chief of the banned Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to Life Imprisonment with Rigorous Imprisonment and Fine of Rs 10,75,000 on Wednesday.

Special judge Praveen Singh charged him of offenses punishable under Section 120 B IPC (10+ 6 years imprisonment, Rs 10,000 fine), 121 IPC (Life Imprisonment + 6 years, Rs 10,000 fine), 121A IPC (10+6 years imprisonment + Rs 10,000 fine), 13 UAPA r/w 120B IPC (5+3 years imprisonment, RS 5,000 fine), 15 UAPA r/w 120B IPC (10+6 years imprisonment+ Rs 10,000 fine), 17 UAPA (Life imprisonment+ 2.5 years, Rs 10 lakh fine), 18 UAPA (10+6 years imprisonment, Rs 10,000 fine), 20 UAPA 10+6 years imprisonment, Rs 10,000 fine), 38 UAPA (5+ 3 years imprisonment, Rs 5,0000 fine), 39 UAPA ( (5+ 3 years imprisonment, Rs 5,000 fine). 

Malik will be lodged in Prison No. 7 of the Tihar Jail. There, he will be alloted a job based on the order copy, as per the Director General of the Prison. 

Conviction in terror funding case

The conviction and the subsequent sentencing came in a case registered by the NIA in 2017. The central agency highlighted that Malik had formed the Joint Resistance Leadership along with Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq in 2016 to support the cause of J&K's secession from India. It alleged that the secessionists were mobilizing from all possible sources including the Hawala network to fuel unrest and support the terrorist activities in J&K. Maintaining that Malik had played a key role in orchestrating protests, it cited his Facebook chat to show that stone-pelting incidents were a part of a well-planned conspiracy.

The NIA also pointed out that the JKLF chief had set up an elaborate mechanism across the world to raise funds for carrying out terrorist and other unlawful activities in the name of a "freedom struggle". It mentioned that several incriminating material including protest calendars, a copy of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen's letterhead and electronic items were seized from his house during a raid on February 26, 2019. According to the agency, Malik had a close association with Lashkar-e-Taiba as well which was evident from an email exchange.

Several others such as Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah, his close aide Ayaz Akbar, businessman Zahoor Ahmed Watali; Peer Saifullah, Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Nayeem Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar. They have all been charged under Sections 120B (Punishment for criminal conspiracy), 121 (Waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India), 121A and 124A of the IPC and Sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Since Yasin Malik's conviction, Pakistan leaders ranging from PM Shehbaz Sharif to Imran Khan have denounced the verdict and demanded his release. 

Full order copy

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