Yasin appears in court via videoconferencing

Jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik appeared before a special TADA court here via videoconferencing on Thursday and cross-examined a witness in the 1989 abduction case of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Dr Shehnaz Taing, a retired doctor, recorded her statement and supported prosecution’s version. The next date of hearing has been fixed for December 23.

Senior public prosecutor SK Bhat, who represented the CBI, said, “The retired doctor told the court that at the time of Rubaiya’s abduction (on December 8, 1989), she was posted at Lal Ded hospital in Srinagar and pursuing her postgraduation.”

Rubaiya was kidnapped when she was returning from Lal Ded hospital in a mini-bus. She was freed five days later after the then VP Singh government, supported by the BJP, released five terrorists in exchange.

Bhat said two witnesses were scheduled to record their statements in the court. While one of them, the retired doctor, was present in court, the other was in Saudi Arabia and could not join the trial, he said. Another witness’ exemption application was approved by the court as he was undergoing dialysis, he added.

Mohammad Aslam Goni, defence lawyer of nine other accused barring Malik, said, “Dr Taing recorded her statement before the court, but Rubaiya was exempted from today’s hearing.”

During the last hearing on July 15, Rubaiya had identified five accused, including Malik, before a TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act) court.

Now living in Tamil Nadu, Rubaiya is listed as a prosecution witness by the CBI, which took over the case in early 1990.

Malik, 56, is lodged in Tihar jail after he was sentenced by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in May.

He was arrested in early 2019 in connection with the 2017 terror-financing case.