Yasin Malik refuses court's legal aid offer; insists on personal appearance [details]

Facing trial in a case related to the gruesome killing of four unarmed Indian Air Force (IAF) officers in the early 1990s in Kashmir, the chairman of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik offered legal aid on Monday but he refused.

Instead of accepting the legal aid offer, Yasin Malik, who is serving a life sentence in a terror funding case and lodged in Tihar Jail, insisted on a personal appearance in the next hearing.

"During hearing in the IAF officers killing case Yasin Malik was offered legal aid but he turned down the same and insisted on his physical appearance in the next hearing", the standing counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Monika Kohli told International Bussiness Times.

Today, Yasin Malik appeared in the hearing via video conference from Delhi's Tihar Jail where he is currently lodged, and serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case.

As Yasin Malik rejected the legal aid offer, he was asked to submit his stand in writing on the next date of the hearing.

Kohli is the chief prosecutor in the two key cases against Malik the 1989 abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and the killing of four IAF personnel in 1990.

Serving life imprisonment in terror funding case

Malik was earlier convicted by a court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in terror funding cases on May 19 and sentenced to life imprisonment on May 25. Malik was found guilty by the court under several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Four IAF officers were killed by terrorists in 1990

• Four Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel were killed in a terror attack on January 25, 1990, in which JKLF chief Yasin Malik was involved.
• The charges were brought against Malik and six others on March 16, 2020, in the killing of four IAF personnel on the outskirts of Srinagar on January 25, 1990.
• Besides Malik, others accused charged in the killing of IAF personnel are Ali Mohammed Mir, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi alias Mustafa, Javed Ahmed Mir alias "Nalka", Showkat Ahmed Bakshi, Javed Ahmed Zargar, and Nanaji.
• After a three-decade trial in both the cases was resumed on September 11, 2019.
• On March 7, 2019, Malik was booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) and was brought to Jammu from Srinagar and was shifted to Kot Bhawal Jail.
• After booking Malik under PSA, his organization JKLF was banned by the Centre under anti-terror law. Within days after banning his organization, Malik was shifted from Jammu to Tihar Jail.
• Malik was charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before the TADA court in Jammu on August 31, 1990, in connection with the case.
• April 26, 2019, J&K High Court rejected two petitions of Yasin Malik to shift cases registered him from TADA Court Jammu to TADA Court Srinagar.
• The TADA had allowed the appearance of Yasin Malik through video conferencing as Tihar Jail authorities had refused to present Malik in person due to instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs.