Srinagar/New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik on Tuesday pleaded guilty to all the charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act before NIA court at Delhi in a terror funding case in 2017 as he was not challenging the charges framed against him.
The separatist leader on Tuesday pleaded guilty to charges under Sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), 20 (being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act along with Indian Penal Code Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition). The maximum punishment for these offences is life imprisonment.
While Malik did not have a lawyer in the case, the amicus curiae appointed by the court told The Indian Express that he was not challenging the charges framed against him.
Mr. Malik was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in April 2019 in connection with the terror funding case, after one month, the GOI (Govt Of India) on 22 March banned JKLF for “supporting extremism and militancy” and indulging in “anti-national activity.”
Special Judge Praveen Singh posted the matter for May 19 to hear arguments on the quantum of Malik’s sentence.
On Tuesday, the court also formally framed charges against other people who said they are ready to face a trial in the case including Farooq Ahmed Dar, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, Md Yusuf Shah, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Md Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Abdul Rashid Sheikh and Naval Kishore Kapoor.
On March 16, a Delhi court had ordered framing charges against Malik and other Kashmiri separatist leaders under the anti-terror law as well as the Indian Penal Code sections, reported ANI.
“The analysis reflects that the statements of witnesses and documentary evidence have connected almost all the accused with each other and to a common object of secession, to the commonality of means they were to use, their close association to terrorist or terrorist organisations under the guiding hand and funding of Pakistani establishment,” the NIA court had said while passing the order.
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front was founded by Amanullah Khan, with Maqbool Bhat in 1948 in both Pakistan-administered and Indian-administered Kashmir for the re-unification and complete independence of Jammu and Kashmir State. Now banned by GOI, the association was taken over by Yasin Malik in 1980.