PESHAWAR: Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik has refused to defend himself in court and said he is ready to accept the death penalty if the court convicts him.
According to media reports, Malik submitted a 25-page affidavit in a Srinagar court rejecting the charge of murder. The case relates to the killing of Sarala Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit nurse who was killed in the early 1990s.
In his statement, Yasin Malik said he was not involved in the murder of Sarala Bhat on April 19, 1990, because he had already been seriously injured in an Indian forces raid on April 8, 1990. He added that he would not take part in the court proceedings of this case, and if the court still finds him guilty, he is ready to accept the death sentence.
In May 2022, India’s National Investigation Agency NIA demanded the death penalty for Yasin Malik in a terror funding case. At that time too, Malik refused to ask for leniency and left the decision to the court. On May 25, 2022, the court rejected NIA’s demand for death and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
He was given two life sentences along with other punishments and fines. Later, the NIA appealed in the Delhi High Court against the life sentence and again demanded the death penalty.
In the same 25-page legal submission, Yasin Malik also mentioned his personal life. He said he does not want his wife Mashal Malik to spend the rest of her life burdened by his uncertain future, long imprisonment, or as a widow. Therefore, he is freeing her from the marriage.
He also addressed his 8-year-old daughter and asked her to call her grandmother in Srinagar every day so that she does not feel too lonely in her old age.
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