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Rubaiya Sayeed skips court hearing in trial against Yasin Malik, warrant issued
Rubaiya Sayeed identified JKLF chief Yasin Malik as one of the persons who abducted her on December 8, 1989 in Srinagar. She was released by the terrorists on December 13 after the VP Singh government agreed to release five arrested terrorists
JAMMU: A special Jammu court on Tuesday issued bailable warrants against former chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya Sayeed after she didn’t turn up at the trial against Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik in connection with her abduction in December 1989.
Rubaiya Sayeed, a medical student at the time, was abducted on December 8, 1989, and freed on December 13 that year after the Union government - her father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was the Union home minister in the VP Singh government -- agreed to release five arrested terrorists.
Monika Kohli, tḥe special public prosecutor for Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act [TADA] cases, said Rubaiya Sayeed was supposed to be present in the court on Tuesday but missed the hearing. TADA was anti-terrorism law that was in force between 1985 and 1995. Several cases registered under it are still in various stages of the legal process.
“Since she didn’t turn up today, the court issued a bailable warrant against her… Yes, she can appear and get the warrants cancelled but this is a procedure under the law to ensure her presence on the next date of hearing,” Kohli said. The next date of hearing is September 21.
Rubaiya Sayeed’s lawyer Anil Sethi later claimed that the judge recanted the warrant at his request after the hearing on his request after being told that Rubaiya was not informed of the court hearing. “The TADA court has withdrawn the warrants because CBI had misled it. The CBI claimed they had informed Rubaiya to remain present before the court on Tuesday”.
Kohli, however, contested this version, saying she was not aware of the judge withdrawing the warrant. “We have no such intimation,” he said, adding that Rubaiya Sayeed was present on the last date of hearing when the date of hearing was announced.
The TADA court framed charges against Yasin Malik and nine others in January last year. In May this year, the TADA court summoned Rubaiya Sayeed for the first time in the trial relating to the abduction case. Rubaiya identified her abductors in court.
After the July 15 hearing, Kohli told reporters that Rubaiya Sayeed identified Yasin Malik and three others. “She stood by her statement whatever she had deposed before the CBI. She has identified everybody,” Kohli said.
The Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], the party founded by Rubaiya’s father and led by her sister Mehbooba Mufti after his death, however, later claimed that she only identified Yasin Malik in court and not the others.
Rubaiya Sayeed, who lives in Tamil Nadu, was required to be present in court on Tuesday in view of Yasin Malik’s insistence that he wanted to cross-examine her.
On Tuesday, Yasin Malik, who is serving a life term in Tihar jail in a terror funding case, again told the court that he wanted to cross-examine Rubaiya Sayeed and others in person before the special TADA Court.
“Malik informed the court that he has already received the statement of Rubaiya Sayeed at Tihar Jail, which she recorded before the special TADA court on the last date of hearing on July 15,” Kohli said.
The court told Yasin Malik that he will have to cross-examine Rubaiya Sayeed and others via virtual mode from Tihar jail.
Yasin Malik’s request to travel to Jammu to appear in person in the trial of two terror cases - the Sayeed kidnapping and the killing of four air force officers, including squadron leader Ravi Khanna - in which he is an accused was earlier declined by the government. Squadron leader Khanna was among four Indian Air Force officials shot dead by car-borne JKLF terrorists, allegedly including Yasin Malik, on the outskirts of Srinagar in January 1990.
