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On indefinite hunger strike, Yasin Malik put on IV fluids in Tihar jail
The 56-year-old Malik, the chief of banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), began his indefinite strike on Friday.
Convicted Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who has been on a hunger strike since Friday morning, was put on intravenous fluids (IV fluids) in Delhi’s Tihar jail, prison officials said on Monday.
Malik, who was lodged alone in a high-risk cell in Tihar’s jail number 7 serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case, has been shifted to the prison’s medical investigation (MI) room where doctors are constantly monitoring his health status and updating the prison headquarters, officials added.
“He has refused to eat anything. This is why he had to be put on intravenous (IV) fluids. We send a report about his health update to the top brass of the headquarters every evening,” said a prison officer, requesting anonymity. “The officials urged him to end his fast, but he has refused this. If need be, he could be shifted to a hospital amidst tight security.”
The 56-year-old Malik, the chief of banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), began his indefinite strike on Friday morning after the Union government did not respond to his plea that he be allowed to physically appear in a Jammu court hearing the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case in which he is an accused.
Appearing before a special court in Jammu through video conference on July 13, Malik said he has written to the government for a physical appearance before the special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court, in the case related to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, in December 1989. He had appeared in connection with the case pertaining to killing of four Indian Air Force (IAF) officials in 1990.
On July 15, Rubaiya Sayeed identified Yasin Malik as one of her kidnappers in the high-profile abduction by JKLF in 1989, before a special court in Jammu.
On May 25 this year, a Delhi court sentenced Malik to life imprisonment a week after he pleaded guilty and was convicted of terror funding, spreading terrorism, and secessionist activities in the Kashmir Valley in 2017.
Malik is one of the most guarded prisoners among nearly 20,000 inmates in Tihar jail. While convicted prisoners are given work inside the jail and paid for their labour, he was not assigned any job because of security reasons, the prison official quoted above said.
Unlike other convicts, Malik is also not entitled to parole or furlough because he has been convicted under stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Section 121 (waging war against the Government of India) of the Indian Penal Code.
The NIA court while handing him the life imprisonment noted Malik’s crimes were “intended to strike at the heart of the idea of India” and were “committed with the assistance of foreign powers and designated terrorists”.
A second Tihar jail officer said Malik has prepared a will and handed it to his family members when they visited him on July 19.
“It looks like he feels he may not survive life imprisonment in Tihar and will not come out legally too. He has refused to eat anything,” the officer said, also wishing not to be named. “The details of his health update and his activities are also sent to the intelligence agencies because his case will have ripple effect in the Kashmir Valley.”
