Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik was awarded life imprisonment by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in a case related to terrorism and secessionist activities in the Kashmir Valley in 2016-17.
Malik was produced before Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh amid high security, and awarded the life sentence, apart from a fine of Rs 10 lakh.
The National Investigation Agency had sought the death penalty for Terrorist Yasin Malik, who had previously pleaded guilty to all charges in a terror funding case, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The defence has requested life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.
Malik, head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has been accused by the NIA of orchestrating violent protests during 2016, in which 89 cases of stone-pelting were reported.
The agency had told the court that Malik’s home was raided and they found a copy of a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen letterhead. The agency had said that the letterhead, signed by various terror organisations, warned people who supported football tournaments in the Valley to disengage themselves from the organisers of the game and show loyalty to the freedom struggle.
In March, the court, while framing charges in the matter, had said that said prima facie, it has been established that Shabir Shah, Yasin Malik, Rashid Engineer, Altaf Fantoosh, Masrat, and Hurriyat/Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) were the direct recipients of terror funds.
The court also noted that prima facie there existed a criminal conspiracy pursuant to which large-scale protests, resulting in violence and arson, were orchestrated in the Valley.
It also said that Malik had set up an elaborate structure and mechanism across the world to raise funds for carrying out terrorist and other unlawful activities in Jammu and Kashmir in the name of “freedom struggle”.
