Wednesday the Delhi High Court noted that it is not in a hurry to hear the petition of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which demands the death penalty to the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik in a terror funding case. The court observed that Malik is already serving life imprisonment sentence and that this petition can only aim to increase his sentence.
The NIA was given one more four weeks to make a rejoinder to the reply given by Malik by a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja, which termed the opportunity as the final one. This was sought upon the request by the lawyers of NIA, Akshai Malik and Khawar Saleem, who asked more time to answer a 70 page reply of Malik, which had been filed in September.
Yasin Malik, who was virtually present at the hearing, disagreed with the application to be given more time. He indicated that the agency had sought more time earlier in the prior hearing on November 10, and said that he had suffered a lot of trauma due to being in legal uncertainty about the death penalty over the past three years.
In his turn, the counsel of the NIA presented a point that Malik had taken nearly a year to deliver his response, and that the agency needed two to three weeks to deliver its rejoinder, which had already been sent to the vetting. The bench granted the request of the agency and also pointed out that the case did not need to be heard at once since it is all about improving punishment but not posing an immediate risk to freedom.
The decision of the court emphasizes the procedural speed of high-profile cases regarding terrorism and separatist leaders, to balance the right of the petitioner to respond with the need to make sure that the petitions are considered in the courts in time and receive more severe punishment. Within the four weeks given by the court, the NIA is supposed to submit its rejoinder.
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