A special Terrorist and Disruptive Activity (TADA) court on Wednesday issued a fresh production warrant seeking physical appearance of jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik in a case related to the killing of four IAF officials in 1990.
Additional advocate general Monika Kohli, who is Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) special prosecutor in the case, said, “Today, the court issued a fresh production warrant for the physical appearance of Malik on the next hearing on December 22 as he had refused to cross-examine the witnesses via virtual mode.”
She said the CBI has already challenged the order for physical appearance of Malik before the Supreme Court as there is a direction from the home ministry because of another case pending against him.
“Then there is a letter (from Tihar prison authorities) that he can’t be produced before the trial court here due to certain reasons. Since he has moved an application seeking his physical appearance, the court issued a fresh production warrant to facilitate cross-examination of witnesses by him,” she added.
“There is no delay in the case as the remaining witnesses are being examined. Though no witness turned up today, all the accused were present in the court, along with Malik, who appeared through videoconferencing from Tihar jail,” Kohli said.
{{/usCountry}}“There is no delay in the case as the remaining witnesses are being examined. Though no witness turned up today, all the accused were present in the court, along with Malik, who appeared through videoconferencing from Tihar jail,” Kohli said.
{{/usCountry}}On October 19, the ministry of home affairs had reportedly refused Malik’s movement to Jammu for appearing before the special TADA court.
He is undergoing life sentence in the Tihar jail in a terror-funding case and had sought his physical appearance before the special court to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in two cases – killing of four IAF officials and abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and sister of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti.
The TADA court had in March 2020 framed charges against Malik and six others for their alleged involvement in the killing of four unarmed IAF officials, including squadron leader Ravi Khanna, in 1990 in Kashmir.
Rubaiya’s abduction case will be taken up on Thursday by the same court.