Yasin Malik gets life term: What judge who sentenced Kashmiri separatist said

Malik's trial took place in the court of special NIA judge Praveen Singh, who, among other things, observed that the case failed the test of ‘rarest of rare cases.’

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik was on Wednesday handed life imprisonment by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in connection with a 2017 terror funding case. Malik, a Kashmiri separatist, was, on May 19, convicted on various charges under the said case.

Police escort Yasin Malik (C) to the Patiala House Court in New Delhi. (AFP)

Malik's trial took place in the court of special NIA judge Praveen Singh who, eventually, sent the former behind bars for life. In sentencing the 56-year-old, the judge made the following significant remarks:

(1.) 'The convict may have given up the gun in 1994, but never expressed any regret for violence committed prior to 1994 and still remained engaged in violent acts."

(2.) On the convict's claim he was following ‘Gandhian principle of non-violence,’ the judge said the former ‘cannot invoke the Mahatma’ because unlike Malik, who continued to engage in violence despite giving up the gun, Gandhi called off the entire non-cooperation movement after one incident of violence at Chauri Chara.

(3.) “The offences committed were of a very serious nature, and intended to strike at the heart of the idea of India and to forcefully secede J&K from the Union of India.”

(4.) The judge added that the seriousness of the crimes increased as these were committed (a) with the assistance and involvement of foreign powers and designated terrorists, (b) behind the ‘smokescreen’ of an alleged peaceful political movement.

(5.) Finally, judge Praveen Singh concluded that due to the manner of commission of the crimes, and the sort of weaponry used, these would fail the test of ‘rarest of rare cases.’

(With ANI inputs)