NEW DELHI, May 25: A Delhi court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik in a terror funding case.
Special Judge Praveen Singh also awarded varying jail terms for various offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The court also imposed a fine of over ₹10 lakh on Malik.
The life term was awarded for two offences — Section 121 (waging war against the government of India) of IPC and section 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act) of the UAPA. All the sentences will run concurrently.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had, however, sought death penalty before the Delhi court for Malik, who had earlier pleaded guilty to all the charges, including those under the UAPA, court sources said.
The agency told Justice Singh in an in-chamber proceedings that Malik was responsible for the Kashmiri exodus.
On the point of sentence, sources said that Malik submitted that he would not “beg” for mercy, and that court could decide at its discretion.
The amicus curiae appointed by the court to assist Malik, sought minimum punishment, i.e., life imprisonment in the matter.
Malik, meanwhile, said that if Indian Intelligence can prove that he had been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in 28 years, then he would retire from politics, and will also accept the hanging.
The judge, however, said that since he has already been convicted, there was no point in arguing on the facts of the case and that he was already given the opportunity.
After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its order and is likely to pronounce it later in the day.
The court had on May 19 convicted Malik and had directed the NIA authorities to assess his financial situation to determine the amount of fine likely to be imposed.
Malik had on May 10 told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him that included sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the IPC.
The court had, meanwhile, formally framed the charges against Kashmiri separatist leaders including Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, Md Yusuf Shah, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Md Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, and Naval Kishore Kapoor. The charge sheet was also filed against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, who have been declared proclaimed offenders (PO) in the case. (Agencies)
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