Yasin Malik Security Lapse Case: 4 Tihar Officials Suspended

Delhi prison authorities have suspended four officials after a jailed Hurriyat leader, Yasin Malik, appeared in the Supreme Court in person on Friday.

The officials, including a deputy superintendent, two assistant superintendents, and a head warder, have been suspended for "serious security lapse".

Sanjay Baniwal, director general (prisons), said that a detailed inquiry has been ordered into the matter.

"We have a clear-cut instruction to produce Malik through video conferencing only. Instead, Malik was produced in person before the court. It's definitely a gross lapse on our part," Baniwal said.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta has termed Malik's appearance in the Supreme Court as a "major security lapse".

Mehta has written to the Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, seeking action against prison officials.

"How the separatist leader was allowed to step out in the absence of any order or authorisation from court warranting his presence?" Mehta asked.

Malik had arrived at the Supreme Court to appear in an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, challenging a September 2022 order passed by a TADA court in Jammu.

The order required Malik's personal presence in the trial relating to the killing of four Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel in Srinagar in 1990 and the 1989 abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

The Supreme Court on April 24 had stayed this order, thereby issuing notice to the respondents, including Malik to appear either in person or through an authorised lawyer. However, the order did not provide for his personal presence.