Yasin Malik sentencing: NIA court to deliver quantum of punishment for J&K separatist leader

New Delhi: A Special NIA court will on Wednesday pronounce the quantum of punishment for Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who has been convicted in a terror funding case a few days ago. On May 19, Special Judge Praveen Singh posted the matter for May 25 to hear the arguments regarding the quantum of punishment for the offences levelled against Malik.

The court also had directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) authorities to assess his financial situation in connection with the terror funding case prior to Wednesday`s hearing.

The accused is facing a maximum punishment of the death penalty, while the minimum sentence can be life imprisonment in the cases in which he is involved. Notably, in the last hearing, Yasin had withdrawn his lawyer. As he pleaded guilty earlier, nothing was left to be heard during the course of the hearing.

Yasin Malik has been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, other unlawful activities, and disturbing peace in Kashmir.

He had pleaded guilty in the matter. On the last date of the hearing, he told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him, including sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of a terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

The present case is related to the various terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State perpetrating the terrorist and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.