The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that separatist leader Yasin Malik’s mention of senior politicians and bureaucrats in his defense does not negate his documented links with militants, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed. Filing a formal rejoinder, the agency argued that the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief dropped high-profile names merely to “gain popularity and draw public sympathy.”
The submission came during a hearing before a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja, which is considering the NIA’s appeal to enhance Malik’s life sentence to the death penalty in a high-profile terror-funding case.
In May 2022, a Delhi trial court awarded Yasin Malik a life sentence after convicting him of various offenses under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Malik had pleaded guilty to the charges, which included conspiracy to wage war against the government and raising funds for terrorist acts.
In 2023, the NIA moved the Delhi High Court, seeking capital punishment. The agency contends that the trial court’s decision not to categorize the case as “rarest of rare” was “ex facie legally flawed” and that a life sentence is not commensurate with the loss of lives suffered by the nation and the families of soldiers.
The NIA’s rejoinder was a direct response to Malik’s earlier 85-page affidavit. In that filing, Malik had claimed he was part of a state-sanctioned “backchannel” peace mechanism for nearly three decades, working with various Prime Ministers, intelligence chiefs, and business leaders to foster peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
Dismissing these claims, the NIA stated:
“The mere mention of names of senior politicians and senior bureaucrats does not negate the fact that the convicted accused had linkages with militant Hafiz Saeed and other militants.”
The agency asserted that Malik himself admitted to being the “commander-in-chief” of the JKLF and acknowledged connections with Sayeed Salauddin, the chief of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. The NIA further alleged that Malik maintained contact with the top leadership of Pakistan, including its President and Prime Minister, to propagate secessionist agendas.
The NIA took strong exception to Malik’s portrayal of himself as a “good sacrificial goat” in his reply. The agency labeled such statements as “unfair to the judicial process,” emphasizing that the case is built on concrete evidence rather than “emotional narrations.”
Furthermore, the agency argued that Malik’s references to the plight of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s or the 2016 encounter of militant Burhan Wani were “entirely immaterial” to the merits of the terror-funding conviction.
Yasin Malik appeared before the bench virtually from Tihar Jail. The High Court has taken the NIA’s rejoinder on record and directed that a copy be supplied to Malik through jail authorities.
The NIA warned that if “dreaded terrorists” are allowed to avoid capital punishment simply by pleading guilty, it would lead to a “complete erosion of the sentencing policy.”
The court has scheduled the next hearing for July 21.
