A TADA (Terrorist & Anti-Disruptive Activities Act) court here on Monday framed charges against the hardcore Kashmiri separatist and leader of the J&K Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik and six others for allegedly killing four Indian Air Force (IAF) officers in Srinagar 30 years ago in 1990.
Charges under the Sections 302, 307, Sections 3(3), 4(1) of TADA Act 1987 and Section 7(27) of the Arms Act of 1959 read with Section 120 have been framed against Malik and others for the terror attack on the IAF personnel in the Rawalpura locality of Srinagar.
The IAF personnel shot by them were, Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna, Corporals DB Singh and Uday Shankar and Airman Azad Ahmad when they were waiting for a bus on 24 January 1990 in Rawalpura in Srinagar.
Malik is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail after he was shifted from Jammu’s Kot Balwal Jail by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the terror funding case being investigated by the agency. The TADA court heard him through video-conferencing. Malik had earlier filed a petition seeking transfer of the case to Srinagar from here but the High Court rejected the plea.
The TADA judge directed the CBI to produce the witnesses in the court on 30 March when the next hearing has been fixed for recording their statements.
Those against whom the charges have been framed are, Yasin Malik, Ali Mohammad Mir, Manzoor Ahmad Sofi, Javed Ahmad Mir alias Nalka, Nanaji alias Saleem, Javed Ahmad Zargar, and Shoukat Ahmad Bakshi.
Nirmal Khanna, widow of the martyred IAF officer Ravi Khanna had earlier said that Malik should be sent to the gallows.
Successive governments in the past had let Malik and the six other killers virtually free and did not pursue the case against them for past 30 years. The CBI had last year filed charge-sheet against them and the case was transferred to the TADA court in Jammu. The court in September last year issued non-bailable warrants against Malik and others for allegedly being involved in these killings.