The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday dismissed two petitions by separatist leader Yasin Malik and others seeking transfer of cases related to the kidnapping of Rubiya Sayeed, daughter of former chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and killing of Air Force personnel, from Jammu to Srinagar. The two cases are nearly 30-year-old.
Malik, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail following his arrest in a terror funding case earlier this month. Justice Sanjay Kumar Gupta struck down a 2008 order that had transferred their hearing to Srinagar.
In a 27-page judgment, the judge also vacated an order by a single bench of the high court which had stayed trial against Malik in 1995, besides observing that the October 25, 2008 order of a special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court of Jammu allowing Malik’s petition for shifting trial to Srinagar was not correct.
In 1989, Dr Rubiya Syed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, was kidnapped by terrorists when she was going to her house at Nowgam in a mini bus. She was taken to an undisclosed location and the terrorists threatened to kill her if their demands were not met. The second case relates to an incident that occurred on January 25, 1990 at Rawalpora, Srinagar. Four unarmed Air Force personnel were killed and at least 40 others, including a woman, were seriously injured when terrorists opened fire on them. Two chargesheets were filed by the CBI in August and September 1990 against Malik before the designated TADA court in Jammu.
