Prison authorities allowed to produce Yasin Malik before HC virtually on Aug 9

A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Anish Dayal noted that a Union home ministry’s order said Malik cannot be moved from Tihar and shall not be taken out of the jurisdiction of the national capital

The Delhi high court on Friday allowed the Tihar prison authorities to produce Kashmiri separatist Yasin Malik, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a terror funding case last year, before the court through video conferencing on August 9.

Yasin Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment in a terror funding case last year. (PTI)

The authorities on Wednesday moved an urgent application citing “heavy security issue” to seek a modification of a May 29 court order for the physical appearance in connection with the National Investigation Agency’s appeal for the death penalty to Malik in the case.

The application said Malik has been lodged under a category of very high-risk prisoners and it is imperative that he is not physically produced in court to maintain public order and safety. It added grave prejudice will be caused to the appellant state and society if the application is not allowed.

A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Anish Dayal noted that a Union home ministry’s order said Malik cannot be moved from Tihar Jail and shall not be taken out of the jurisdiction of the national capital. “The order of May 29 is modified to the extent that the jail superintendent is directed to produce Yasin Malik through video conferencing alone on August 9 and not in person,” the court said in an oral order.

On July 21, Malik appeared before the Supreme Court in a separate case related to the 1989 abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. It prompted solicitor-general Tushar Mehta to write to the Union home ministry saying Malik’s presence there was “a matter of grave security lapse” since he could have escaped or been killed.

Malik was brought in a prison van escorted by armed security personnel without the court’s permission. An inquiry has been ordered into the lapse and four officials suspended over it.