India’s Leading Anti-Terror Agency Seeks Death Penalty for Kashmiri Independence Leader Yasin Malik
India’s top anti-terrorism investigation agency has once again requested the death penalty for Muhammad Yasin Malik, the prominent leader of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), following his previous life imprisonment sentence, according to official sources.
Last year, Malik, aged 57, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a case related to terror funding. He had declined the services of a lawyer appointed by the government and opted not to mount a defense against the charges.
The court dismissed the National Investigation Agency’s plea for the death penalty, stating that capital punishment should be reserved for crimes that “shock the collective consciousness” of society.
As reported by a senior security official in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA lodged a petition with the High Court in New Delhi on Friday, seeking to impose the death penalty on Malik-occupied Jammu and Kashmir to AFP.
The hearing for the petition is scheduled for Monday, according to the legal news website Bar and Bench.
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Malik has faced repeated imprisonments, including spending 14 years in prison during which he claimed to have been subjected to torture. He was ultimately arrested in 2018, just months before New Delhi revoked the special status of the occupied region, leading to an extended lockdown and communication blockade.
