BJP’s Chugh criticises opposition, calls for Malik’s death penalty

In a recent announcement, Tarun Chugh, the BJP national general secretary and party’s representative for Jammu and Kashmir, harshly criticised Opposition parties for their perceived leniency towards Yasin Malik, who is accused in a terror funding case. Malik, a prominent separatist leader, has been serving a life term for his involvement in terrorism and secessionist activities spanning four decades. However, Chugh alleges that certain parties, including Abdullahs, Muftis, and the Congress, have given Malik a “red carpet treatment”, neglecting the seriousness of his anti-national acts.
Malik’s role in the Kashmir unrest, especially his reported orchestration of violent incidents leading to the massacre of Hindus, has been particularly condemned by Chugh. He insists that such actions, which he describes as “subversive and divisive”, warrant the most severe punishment. Meanwhile, Chugh commends Prime Minister Narendra Modi for leading Jammu and Kashmir into a new era of development and progress, transforming the region from a hotbed of terrorism to a potential tourist destination. He highlights that this change has sparked hope and aspiration among the youth and derailed the subversive strategies that the Pakistan ISI had implemented during previous regimes.
Simultaneously, the Delhi High Court has drawn attention to Malik’s case. On Monday, it issued a notice to Malik on a plea by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which seeks to intensify his life sentence to the death penalty. A bench comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh also sanctioned warrants for Malik’s production before the court on August 9. The Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, who represented the NIA, argued that Malik’s actions were so egregious that his case could be considered “rarest of the rare”, which would justify the death penalty.
According to court records, Malik had pleaded guilty to charges under section 121 IPC, which allows for an alternative death sentence. Following this plea, the trial court awarded him life imprisonment on May 24, 2022. He was found guilty of several offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the IPC. The chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Malik had accepted these charges and consequently received a life sentence. However, the NIA’s plea in the high court seeks to enhance this sentence to capital punishment. The agency maintains that sparing such “dreaded terrorists” from the death penalty, even if they plead guilty, would lead to a total erosion of the sentencing policy, offering a loophole for terrorists to evade the harshest punishment. The NIA argues that a life sentence is insufficient for crimes of this magnitude, especially considering the immense suffering inflicted upon the nation and the families of fallen soldiers. They assert that the trial court’s conclusion, which deemed Malik’s crimes as not falling within the “rarest of the rare cases” for the grant of death penalty, is fundamentally flawed and utterly unsustainable.