NEW DELHI: A day after jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik’s physical appearance in the Supreme Court without the court’s permission, the Department of Delhi Prisons suspended four officials, including a deputy superintendent, for the breach of Tihar Jail security where the Kashmiri militant is serving the life term.
Court officials were surprised on Friday when the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) appeared in a packed courtroom in a terror-funding case. He was brought to the high-security apex court premises in a prison van escorted by armed security personnel without the court’s permission.
The incident occurred during a hearing of an appeal filed by the CBI against a September 20, 2022, order of a trial court in Jammu related to the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Justice Surya Kant was presiding over the bench on Friday.
Among the four officials suspended by the Department of Delhi Prisons are a deputy superintendent, two assistant superintendents, and one head warder.
A statement from the officials confirmed that Malik was physically produced in the apex court by the officials of Central Jail No. 7 (Tihar), and it was prima facie observed that it was a serious lapse on the part of the jail officials.
DIG (Prisons-Headquarters) Rajiv Singh will lead the inquiry to determine the extent of the lapse and the accountability. A report will be submitted within three days, sources said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Friday told a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta that there was a procedure for high-risk convicts to be allowed into the courtroom to argue their case personally. When Mehta pointed at Malik’s presence in the courtroom, the bench said it had not granted him permission or passed any order allowing him to argue his case in person.