The Supreme Court on Friday ordered jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik to appear virtually before a Jammu court from Tihar Jail on March 27 in connection with two high-profile cases from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the Jammu Sessions Court is “well-equipped” with video-conferencing facilities, enabling Malik’s virtual examination without the need for physical transfer.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier sought the transfer of trials in the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and the 1990 Srinagar shootout case—where four Indian Air Force personnel were killed—from Jammu to New Delhi, citing security concerns.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, informed the court that the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s Registrar General confirmed the proper functioning of the video-conferencing system in the Jammu court. Mehta argued that Malik’s refusal to engage legal counsel and the opposition from other accused to the trial’s transfer appeared to be tactics to delay proceedings.
The Supreme Court had previously directed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to ensure seamless video-conferencing facilities at the special court in Jammu for trials involving Malik and other accused.
The apex court is currently considering the CBI’s plea against a September 20, 2022 order from the Jammu trial court, which had directed Malik to be physically produced for cross-examining prosecution witnesses in the Rubaiya Sayeed abduction case. The CBI has opposed Malik’s physical appearance in court, citing national security concerns and potential risks associated with moving him out of Tihar Jail.
Malik, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special NIA court in May 2023 in a terror-funding case, has been lodged in Tihar Jail since then. He is facing trial in both the high-profile cases from Jammu and Kashmir’s turbulent past.
Rubaiya Sayeed, who now resides in Tamil Nadu, is a key prosecution witness in the kidnapping case. She was abducted on December 8, 1989, and released five days later after the government agreed to release five jailed militants, following intense negotiations during the tenure of the then BJP-backed V.P. Singh government.
