New Delhi: On Thursday, Delhi High Court judge Amit Sharma recused himself from hearing the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) plea seeking the death penalty for separatist leader Yasin Malik in a terror funding case.
The case was reassigned to a division bench led by Justice Prathiba M Singh due to a change in the roster of judges handling such cases.
“List before another bench, of which Justice Sharma is not a member, on August 9,” Justice Singh stated.
Yasin Malik, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief currently serving a life sentence, attended the court proceedings virtually from Tihar jail. The court ordered that he would continue to appear virtually in future hearings.
The high court had previously issued a notice to Malik on May 29 last year regarding the NIA’s plea for the death penalty and requested his presence at the next hearing. Due to security concerns, jail authorities had sought and obtained permission for Malik’s virtual attendance, citing him as a “very high-risk prisoner.”
On May 24, 2022, a trial court sentenced Malik to life imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code. The NIA is appealing this sentence, arguing that a militant should not receive a life term merely for pleading guilty and avoiding a trial.
The NIA contends that not imposing the death penalty on militant who plead guilty undermines the sentencing policy and allows them to evade capital punishment. They assert that a life sentence is inadequate for the severity of Malik’s crimes, which caused significant loss of life and aimed to secede Jammu and Kashmir from India. The trial court had ruled that Malik’s actions, while severe, did not meet the “rarest of rare” criteria necessary for the death penalty.
