Refusing the production of JKLF leader Yasin Malik before a special CBI court (TADA/POTA) in Jammu in two kidnapping and terror related cases against him, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered that the separatist leader can cross-examine the prosecution witnesses through video conferencing facilities from Tihar jail where he is serving life imprisonment in a terror-funding case.
Ordering the cross-examination of prosecution witnesses in two cases – the killing of four Indian Air Force personnel on January 25, 1990 in a shootout in Srinagar, and the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed – the daughter of late Union Home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed – on December 8, 1989, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the reports of the Registrar General of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court as well as the Tihar Jail Superintendent — which said that both (the trial court and Tihar Jail here) have Video-Conferencing facilities.
The bench also noted that in December 2024, the Central government had issued an order under Section 303 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, by which it restricted the movement of separatist leader Malik from Delhi for one year.
The top court order has come on CBI’s plea seeking the transfer of the trial of the separatist leader from the special CBI court (TADA/POTA), Jammu, to Delhi. The investigating agency had approached the top court against the order of the Additional Sessions Judge, Jammu (TADA/POTA) passed on September 20, 2024, and September 21, 2024, issuing a production warrant against Malik in two different cases.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that there were security concerns regarding the physical production of Malik.
Yasin Malik, appearing virtually through video conferencing before the top court from Tihar Jail, asserted that he was not a “terrorist” and was only a “political leader”.
At this, Justice Oka told Malik that the bench was not deciding the merits of the case and was only on the issue of whether he should be allowed to cross-examine witnesses through Video Conferencing.
“We are not deciding the issue, whether you are a terrorist or a political leader. The only issue is whether you should be permitted to cross-examine the witnesses by video conference,” Justice Oka told Malok.