New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik in a terror funding case. Malik had earlier pleaded guilty to all the charges, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The Kashmiri separatist leader has been awarded life imprisonment under Section 17 UAPA, and a fine of Rs 10 lakh, sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment under 120B and a fine of Rs 10,000 and other sections of IPC and UAPA, advocate Akhand Pratap Singh, court-appointed amicus, has said.
The amicus curiae appointed by the court to assist Malik, sought minimum punishment, i.e., life imprisonment in the matter. Malik, meanwhile, said that if Indian Intelligence can prove that he had been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in 28 years, then he would retire from politics, and will also accept the hanging.
After hearing the arguments, the court had earlier reserved its order and pronounced it later today. The court had on May 19tb convicted Malik and had directed the NIA authorities to assess his financial situation to determine the amount of fine likely to be imposed.
Malik on May 10th told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him that included sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the IPC.