Judges At Supreme Court Taken By Surprise, As Yasin Malik Appears Before Court Unannounced

The Supreme Court on friday was more than shocked to see Jammu Kashmir Liberation (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik being presented in the court as there were no order passed to seek his appearance in person. The Delhi Prisons Department said there was “prima facie lapse” on the part of some officials. The DG (Prisons) has ordered an inquiry into the security lapse. Tushar Mehta, the solicitor general, asked for action into how Malik, who was imprisoned, was permitted to leave without a court order or authorization.

Yasin Malik, the leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), who is serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail for funding terrorism, appeared before the Supreme Court on Friday while being escorted by police. The solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, called this a “major security lapse” in a letter to the Union home secretary.

Mehta sought action on how Malik was allowed to step out in the absence of any order or authorisation from the court. Mehta wrote in the letter to Ajay Kumar Bhalla, the home secretary, “It is my firm opinion that this is a serious security lapse.” He pleaded with the secretary to treat the situation seriously and take appropriate action.

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Malik arrived at the courthouse just before noon to appear in a CBI appeal challenging an order issued in September 2022 by a Jammu TADA court requiring his personal appearance in the trials for the murder of four members of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Srinagar in 1990 and the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of then-Union minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in 1989. It was evidently a mistake made by worried jail personnel. In an official order, Baniwal stated, “A deputy IG (headquarters-Prisons) investigation has been ordered to determine culpability of errant employees. He has mandated that the report be delivered in three days.

According to the officials cited above, because Malik opted not to have legal representation in the case, the notification the top court sent on April 24 was interpreted as a notice requesting a personal appearance. The jail authorities receive hundreds of these orders.