The Supreme Court on Thursday mooted setting up a temporary courtroom in Tihar jail to conduct the trial of Yasin Malik, chief of banned terror outfit Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), in the 1989 case of killing four IAF personnel and the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the same year.
“In our country, a fair trial was given even to Ajmal Kasab (the lone surviving gunman of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks),” Justice A S Oka, presiding over a two-judge bench, said and asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to take instructions as to how many witnesses were there and who were needed to be examined in the case.
The bench, also comprising Justice Augustine George Masih, was hearing the CBI’s plea challenging the direction of a Jammu court to produce Malik physically for the trial in the case.
Opposing the direction, Mehta said taking Malik out of Tihar jail was fraught with danger, and the safety of the witnesses was also in question.
The SG showed the bench a photo of Malik sharing the stage with Hafiz Saeed, the founder of banned Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. He insisted that Malik was “not just another terrorist”, he had “travelled to Pakistan on several occasions to meet Saeed”.
The bench then wondered how the cross-examination could be conducted smoothly through videoconferencing due to connectivity issues. As the court suggested setting up a courtroom in Tihar jail, the SG recalled a trial being held in a Gujarat jail.
“A courtroom can be set up in jail and it can be done there… We need to see how the judge will be posted in jail only for this court,” said Justice Oka.
The bench asked the SG to take instructions and fixed November 28 for hearing the matter next.
