The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking the transfer of trial against the separatist leader and the head of the banned Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik and five others in two kidnapping and terror related cases from Jammu and Kashmir to Delhi.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan deferred the hearing as CBI sought adjournment as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was not available and posted it for April 4, 2025.
Yasin Malik, lodged in Tihar Jail, was present in the hearing before the Supreme Court through video-conferencing and also requested the court to post the matter after Ramzan, to which the apex court agreed.
In the last hearing of the matter on January 20, 2025, the top court had asked the Registrar General (RG) of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to ensure proper video conferencing facilities at the special CBI court (TADA/POTA) in Jammu where the trial of separatist leader and five other accused will take place.
The top court had also directed the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court to ensure proper video conferencing facilities at Tihar jail as well where Malik is lodged and is undergoing life imprisonment.
The top court was hearing a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation seeking the transfer of the trials in the two cases from Jammu to New Delhi.
The two cases whose transfer of trial from Jammu to New Delhi has been sought by the investigating agency include – the killing of four Indian Air Force personnel on January 25, 1990 in a shootout in Srinagar and other is the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of late Union Home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, on December 8, 1989.
Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was Union Home Minister from December 2, 1989 -November 10, 1990.
The CBI had also challenged the order of 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.
A Jammu special Court (TADA/POTA) by September 20/21, 2022, ordered Malik’s physical appearance for cross-examination of witnesses concerning the killing of four IAF personnel and abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed.
The top court had stayed the September 20/21, 2022, order of the Jammu court on April 24, 2023.
The apex court had earlier suggested exploring the possibility of setting up a makeshift courtroom in Tihar jail for conducting the trial of Malik and five others in two cases and remarked that Ajmal Kasab was also given an opportunity for a fair trial.
On November 28, 2024, the top court issued a notice to Yasin Malik and five others seeking their response to the CBI’s plea for the transfer of the trial from Jammu to New Delhi. Since neither Malik nor the other five had responded to notice, on December 18, 2024, the top court gave them another two weeks’ time to respond to the investigating agency’s plea for the transfer of trial from Jammu to New Delhi.
The court had said that all the accused have to be heard if the trial is to be transferred.
Besides Yasin Malik, the other accused are Ali Mohammad Mir, Manzoor Ahmad Soofi, Javed Ahmad Mir, Javed Ahmed Zargar, Shaukar Ahmed Bakshi @ Farooq, and Mohammad Zaman Mir.