A prominent advocate for Kashmiri independence and former rebel leader was granted life in jail on Friday, but India's top anti-terrorism investigation agency demanded the death penalty once more, according to official sources.
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Muhammad Yasin Malik, 57, entered a guilty plea to sponsoring terrorism last year after refusing to accept a government-appointed attorney or to stand trial.
The court turned down a plea by the National Investigation Agency for a death sentence, saying capital punishment was for a crime that “shocks the collective consciousness” of society.
On Friday the NIA petitioned the High Court in New Delhi again seeking death sentence for Malik, a senior security official in Indian-administered Kashmir told AFP.
The petition is due for hearing on Monday, legal news website Bar and Bench reported.
In 1989, Malik's JKLF conducted a violent rebellion in Kashmir's Indian-controlled sector (part of which has been governed by Pakistan since 1947) in an effort to wrest control of the entire former kingdom from both nations.
Tens of thousands of civilians, troops, and rebels have died in the battle as a result of India's huge military response.
Malik gave up violence in 1994 and began a nonviolent independence effort. He spoke with Indian politicians, including two prime ministers, during the ensuing years.
He was arrested in 2018, months before New Delhi revoked the restive region's semi-autonomy and imposed a lockdown and months-long communications blockade. He had previously served 14 years in prison, during which time he claimed to have been tortured.
Tension has simmered in the Muslim-majority region since, with many accusing Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi of seeking to change its demographic balance.
Malik rose to prominence in 1990 when his group abducted the daughter of India’s interior minister and released her in exchange of five colleagues from Indian prisons.
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Muhammad Yasin Malik, 57, entered a guilty plea to sponsoring terrorism last year after refusing to accept a government-appointed attorney or to stand trial.
The court turned down a plea by the National Investigation Agency for a death sentence, saying capital punishment was for a crime that “shocks the collective consciousness” of society.
On Friday the NIA petitioned the High Court in New Delhi again seeking death sentence for Malik, a senior security official in Indian-administered Kashmir told AFP.
The petition is due for hearing on Monday, legal news website Bar and Bench reported.
In 1989, Malik's JKLF conducted a violent rebellion in Kashmir's Indian-controlled sector (part of which has been governed by Pakistan since 1947) in an effort to wrest control of the entire former kingdom from both nations.
Tens of thousands of civilians, troops, and rebels have died in the battle as a result of India's huge military response.
Malik gave up violence in 1994 and began a nonviolent independence effort. He spoke with Indian politicians, including two prime ministers, during the ensuing years.
He was arrested in 2018, months before New Delhi revoked the restive region's semi-autonomy and imposed a lockdown and months-long communications blockade. He had previously served 14 years in prison, during which time he claimed to have been tortured.
Tension has simmered in the Muslim-majority region since, with many accusing Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi of seeking to change its demographic balance.
Malik rose to prominence in 1990 when his group abducted the daughter of India’s interior minister and released her in exchange of five colleagues from Indian prisons.
