NEW DELHI: Noting that even Ajmal Kasab received a fair trial in the country, the Supreme Court indicated on Thursday that it may establish a courtroom inside Tihar Jail for the trial of J&K separatist leader Yasin Malik in a kidnapping case.
A two-judge bench, comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih, was hearing a CBI plea against a September 20, 2022 order of a Jammu trial court that directed Malik, serving life term in Tihar, to be produced before it physically to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The bench remarked, “How will cross-examination be done online? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu... In our country, even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial and legal assistance in the high court.”
The top court said that it could order trial to take place inside the jail besides asking the judge to come to the national capital for the proceedings. All the accused must to be heard before an order is passed, it emphasised.