On Thursday, the Supreme Court hinted that it would establish a courtroom for Jammu and Kashmir separatist Yasin Malik in an abduction case within Delhi’s Tihar jail. Additionally, the highest court stated that “Even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial in our country.”
A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenge against a September 2022 order of a Jammu-based Special TADA court was being heard by the top court bench, which was composed of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih.
At the moment, Malik is incarcerated in Tihar for life. In order to cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses in the 1989 kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of then-Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, he was ordered to appear in person before the trial court.
Rubaiya was kidnapped on December 8, 1989, near Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar, and released five days later after five terrorists were liberated by the then-BJP-backed V P Singh administration at the center.
“How will cross-examination be done online? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu… In our country, a fair trial was given even to Ajmal Kasab and legal assistance was given to him in the high court,” PTI quoted the bench as saying.
The top court instructed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the CBI’s attorney, to seek guidance regarding the case’s total number of witnesses.
Malik ‘playing tricks’
According to the PTI report, the solicitor general raised security concerns during the hearing and stated that Malik could not be sent to Jammu for trial.
He said Malik was “playing tricks” by asking to come in person rather than hiring an attorney. He also displayed an alleged photo of Malik with Hafiz Saeed, the architect of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
In addition to requesting that the judge travel to the nation’s capital for the hearings, the top court was able to order the trial to be held within the jail. But before making a decision, the bench stated that all of the accused in the case needed to be heard.
Mehta claimed that security concerns had been raised before when Malik physically appeared before the Supreme Court. On November 28, the bench posted the case and stated that Malik could be permitted to participate remotely in the apex court hearings.
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