Yasin Malik sentenced to life imprisonment in terror funding case

New Delhi, May 25: A Delhi Court on Wednesday sentenced Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik to Life Imprisonment after he was convicted in connection with Jammu & Kashmir terror funding case. Malik had pleaded guilty in the case and did not contest to the charges against him.

The order was pronounced by Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh, who clarified that the sentence will run concurrently. Malik has been sentenced as follows:

- Sec. 120B of IPC: imprisonment of 10 years and Rs. 10,000 fine

- Sec. 121 of IPC: life imprisonment

- Sec. 121A of IPC: imprisonment of 10 years and Rs. 10,000 fine

- Sec. 17 of UAPA: life imprisonment and Rs. 10 lakh fine

- Sec. 18 of UAPA: imprisonment of 10 years and Rs. 10,000 fine

- Sec. 20 of UAPA: imprisonment of 10 years and Rs. 10,000 fine

- Sec. 38 and 39 of UAPA: Imprisonment of 5 years and Rs. 5,000 fine

The NIA had earlier sought the death penalty for Malik. The agency told Special Judge Praveen Singh in in-chamber proceedings that Malik was responsible for the Kashmiri exodus.

Special judge Praveen Singh had on May 19 convicted Malik and had directed NIA authorities to assess his financial situation to determine the amount of fine likely to be imposed.

Malik is facing a maximum punishment of death penalty, while the minimum sentence for the offences committed by him is life imprisonment.

On May 10, Malik had told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him that included section 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for 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.

The court had, meanwhile, formally framed charges against Kashmiri separatist leaders including Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, Md Yusuf Shah, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Md Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Abdul Rashid Sheikh and Naval Kishore Kapoor.

The charge sheet was also filed against Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, who have been declared proclaimed offenders in the case.