Srinagar: The Supreme Court of India on Monday directed the Registrar General of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court to ensure that proper video-conferencing (VC) facilities are available in a Jammu court for the trial of separatist leader Yasin Malik, who is currently in Tihar Jail.
The direction came after the trial judge reported that the VC system in the Jammu court was not functioning properly.
The Bench, comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, ordered the Registrar General to take immediate steps to install a reliable VC system to facilitate hearings through video conference.
The system must allow effective cross-examination of witnesses, the Court specified. The Registrar General was further instructed to submit a report by February 17, detailing the improvements made and the installation of the new system, with an expert assigned to assess its functionality. The matter will be heard again on February 21.
The Court was addressing an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against a Jammu trial court order that had called for Malik’s physical presence in court for cross-examination in two cases.
These cases involve the killing of four Indian Air Force personnel and the abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in 1989. In April 2023, the Supreme Court had stayed the trial court’s order, which sought Malik’s physical presence in Jammu.
The CBI argued that transporting Malik from Tihar Jail to Jammu posed security risks. Malik has been convicted in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after pleading guilty to the charges. In a previous hearing, the Supreme Court had suggested setting up a temporary courtroom in Tihar Jail to allow physical cross-examination of Malik, as a fully functional courtroom with VC facilities already exists at the jail.
At the current hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Court that Malik was refusing to appear via VC. However, the trial judge had reported that the VC system in Jammu was not functioning properly. The Supreme Court ordered an inspection of the VC facilities in both the Jammu court and Tihar Jail, directing the Registrar in charge of IT at the Delhi High Court to ensure that the facilities in Tihar were adequate for the trial
