Stating that Jammu & Kashmir separatist leader Yasin Malik, who is serving a life sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Central Jail, is entitled to a fair trial in the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (Union Home minister from December 2, 1989, to November 10, 1990), the Supreme Court on Thursday cited the case of Ajmal Kasab, the convict in November 26, 2008, Mumbai attacks, who was given a fair trial and provided with legal assistance.

Ajmal Kasab was a member of the Islamist terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Observing that “even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial in our country, with legal assistance provided up to the Supreme Court, a bench comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih indicated that a courtroom might be set up inside Tihar Jail for conducting the trial in the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case, which involves the cross-examination of prosecution witnesses.

The top court made this observation while hearing a CBI plea against the September 20, 2022, order of a Jammu trial court that had directed Malik to be produced before it physically to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case.

Questioning the feasibility of virtual cross-examination of prosecution witnesses due to poor internet connectivity in Jammu, the bench hinted at setting up a courtroom within Tihar Jail for the trial.

The bench remarked, “How will cross-examination be done online? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu… In our country, a fair trial was given even to Ajmal Kasab, and legal assistance was given to him in the high court.”

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, suggested conducting the trial inside Tihar Jail, with the judge of the Jammu court travelling to Delhi.

Agreeing to consider the suggestion by Solicitor General Mehta, the court said that it needed to hear all the accused in the case and posted the matter for hearing on November 28, 2024.

Asking the CBI to amend its plea and make all the accused parties, the court also asked the investigating agency to give the details of the witnesses in the case.