New Delhi (TIP)- A Delhi court on Wednesday, May 25, awarded life imprisonment to Yasin Malik, one of the foremost separatist leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, in a terror funding case, saying the crimes were intended to strike at the “heart of the idea of India” and intended to forcefully secede J&K from Union of India. Special Judge Praveen Singh awarded varying jail terms to Malik for offences under the stringent anti-terror law—Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the IPC, rejecting the NIA’s plea for capital punishment. He said the crimes for which Malik was convicted were of very serious nature.

“These crimes were intended to strike at the heart of the idea of India and intended to forcefully secede J&K from UOI. The crime becomes more serious as it was committed with the assistance of foreign powers and designated terrorists. The seriousness of crime is further increased by the fact that it was committed behind the smokescreen of an alleged peaceful political movement,” the judge said.

The judge said the manner in which the crimes were committed was in the form of conspiracy whereby there was an attempted insurrection by instigating, stone pelting and arson, and a very large-scale violence led to shutting of the government machinery. He, however, noted that the manner of the commission of crime, the kind of weaponry that was used, led him to a conclusion that the crime in question would fail the test of rarest of rare case as laid down by the Supreme Court. The court sentenced the JKLF leader to life in jail for two offences under Section 121 (waging war against the Government of India) of IPC and Section 17 (raising funds for terrorist act) of the UAPA.

During the hearing, Malik contended he had given up violence in the year 1994. “After the ceasefire in the year 1994, he had declared that he would follow the peaceful path of Mahatma Gandhi and engage in a non-violent political struggle. He has further contended that since then there is no evidence against him that in the last 28 years he had provided any hideout to any militant or had provided any logistic support to any terrorist organisation,” the court noted from Malik’s submission.

          Source: PTI