Death sentence for Kashmiri separatist Yasin Malik? Delhi HC to hear NIA plea today

The Delhi High Court is set to hear NIA plea, which seeks the death penalty for Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chief Yasin Malik, who is currently serving a life term given by a trial court in Delhi in a terror funding case last year.

The separatist leader was convicted under multiple sections of the UAPA and IPC for offences that includes waging war against the Government of India. The quantum of punishment for the offences in the terror JKLF funding case was pronounced last year amid tight security at the Patiala House Courts.

Last year, during the hearing, Malik said before the trial court that he wouldn't beg for anything and denied his involvement in any terrorist activities or violence that he was accused of.

Delhi Court to hear NIA plea seeking death sentence for Yasin Malik

During the course of the hearing in the trial court last year, Malik said, "I will not beg for anything. The case is before this court, and I leave it to the court to decide it. If I have been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in the past 28 years, and if Indian intelligence proves this, then I will also retire from politics. I will accept the hanging. I have worked with seven prime ministers," he told the court. Malik was responsible for the expulsion of hundreds of Kashmiri pandits from the valley, as informed by the NIA to the court. Also, the probe agency demanded a death sentence for Malik.

Meanwhile, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik's case must be reviewed and reconsidered as in a democracy like India even the assassins of a prime minister were pardoned. She also lashed out at her former party and cabinet colleague Altaf Bukhari, saying those gleefully supporting Malik's hanging were a grave threat to "our collective rights". "In a democracy like India where even the assassins of a PM were pardoned, the case of a political prisoner like Yasin Malik must be reviewed and reconsidered. The new political Ikhwan gleefully supporting his hanging is a grave threat to our collective rights," Mehbooba said on Twitter.