The Supreme Court on Monday directed the registrar general of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to ensure proper video conferencing facilities at a special court in Jammu where the trial of separatist leader Yasin Malik, who is in Tihar Jail, will take place.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan also directed the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court to ensure proper video conferencing facilities at Tihar jail, where Malik is lodged in connection with another case.
It asked both the registrars of the High Court to file their status reports on February 18 and fixed the plea of the CBI for a hearing on February 21.
“We direct the Registrar General of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir to look into what is stated and take immediate steps for installing a proper system through which hearings can be conducted by using video medium or video conference. The system should be such that there can be effective cross-examination by using the system,” the apex court said.
It passed the order after taking note of the trial judge’s observations that the VC system was not working properly in the Jammu court.
The apex court was hearing a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking the transfer of the trials in the 1989 Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping and the 1990 Srinagar shootout cases from Jammu to New Delhi.
CBI had also challenged the order of Additional Sessions Judge, Jammu (TADA/POTA) passed on September 20 and September 21, issuing a production warrant against Malik in two different cases.
A Jammu court had sought Malik’s physical appearance for cross-examination of witnesses in relation to the killing of four IAF personnel and abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, in 1989.
The apex court had stayed the order of the Jammu court in April 2023.
Last year, on December 18, the apex court gave two weeks time to six accused to respond to the CBI’s plea to transfer the trial of the cases.
The apex court had said that all the accused have to be heard if the trial is to be transferred.
It had earlier suggested exploring setting up a makeshift courtroom in jail for conducting a trial against terror convict Malik in two cases and remarked that Ajmal Kasab was also given an opportunity for a fair trial.
The Jammu court has been hearing the 1989 Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping and the 1990 Srinagar shootout cases involving jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik and others.(ANI)
