On Wednesday, a Special CBI court will hear the case of incarcerated Jammu & Kashmir’s separatist leader Mohammad Yasin Malik in connection with the murder of four Indian Air Force officers. On 25 January 1990, Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna and three other IAF personnel were allegedly killed by Malik and his other accomplices at Srinagar’s Rawalpora.
Notably, Yasin Malik is the prime accused in the killing of four IAF personnel. He was charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before the TADA court in Jammu on August 31, 1990, in connection with the case. Malik has been arrested in a terror funding case by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
As Malik was convicted in May 2022, martyred Squadron leader Ravi Khanna’s wife Shalini Khanna spoke exclusively to Republic Media Network and thanked the Indian Judiciary as well as congratulated the entire country for the massive win. She said that Yasin Malik has already lived the full 32 years of his life and now it is time for him to do some atonement. She expressed confidence that justice will finally be done to her and the families of three other IAF bravehearts who were killed by Yasin Malik.
Yasin Malik sentenced to life imprisonment in terror funding case
On May 19, a special NIA court sentenced Malik to life in prison for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 121 for waging war against the government of India and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) Section 17 for raising finances for terrorist acts. Special Judge Praveen Singh, who sentenced Malik to life in prison rejected the NIA’s request for a capital penalty, claiming that the offences for which Malik was convicted were extremely serious. The sentence was given after the separatist leader pleaded guilty to all the charges in cases related to terrorism and secessionist activities in 2017.
The Judge stated that the atrocities that Malik committed were intended to strike at the heart of India’s ideology and to violently separate J&K from the United Nations Organization of India and because it was carried out with the help of foreign forces and designated terrorists, the crime becomes even more heinous. The judge also said that the offences were perpetrated through a plot that included inciting, stone pelting and burning, as well as widespread unrest, according to media reports.
NIA proved the separatist leader as an accused in the following charges:
He played a vital role in orchestrating stone-pelting incidents in J&K.
Has setup well organised money sourcing network for carrying out terrorist acts.
He was closely associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) — AGENCIES
