New Delhi, (Samajweekly) The Delhi prison authorities have launched a probe after Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, who is undergoing life sentence in a terror funding case, was taken to Supreme Court without following standard operating procedure.
According to a senior prison official, on Friday Malik was produced physically in the Supreme Court by the officials of the Central Jail no. 7 (Tihar) and prima facie observed that it was lapse on the part of concerned Jail officials.
“The Director General (Prisons) has ordered a detailed inquiry in the matter to be conducted by Dy. Inspector General (Headquarters, prison) Rajiv Singh to fix the responsibility of erring officials. The DG had asked to submit a report within three days,” said the official.
Earlier during the day, the apex court was stunned to see Malik before it as he appeared for an appeal filed by the CBI against a special Jammu court order calling for his physical appearance for trial in kidnapping and murder cases against him.
A bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Surya Kant recused itself from hearing the case and deferred it by four weeks.
Apparently, Malik had intimated the jail authorities that he wanted to appear in the matter before the apex court.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta took issue with Malik’s appearance before the top court, saying that the procedure is that the Registrar of the court needs to approve of such appearances.
He expressed sharp disapproval to the jail officials present in the court for allowing Malik, and apprised the bench that he cannot be brought out of jail since Section 268 of the Criminal Procedure Code applies to him.
The SG added that the Central government will be taking necessary steps to ensure that Malik is not let out of jail again, and said that it is a heavy security issue.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, who appeared for the CBI, said that Malik was brought out of jail callously by the jail authorities upon misinterpretation of the top court’s order.
