The Delhi High Court on Friday directed Tihar Jail authorities to ensure that jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik, who is serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case, receives appropriate medical treatment, while refraining from issuing any specific order for his transfer to AIIMS for care.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna noted a report submitted by Tihar officials stating that Malik does not appear to be suffering from any life-threatening condition.
“Apparently from the report received from Tihar Jail, it does not seem that he is suffering from any life-threatening ailment… The petition is disposed of with a direction to the jail authorities to provide appropriate medical treatment as per his condition and in case the said treatment is not available there, the same may be provided in the hospitals having the requisite facility,” Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said.
The court, however, said that if specialised treatment is not available inside the prison, Malik must be taken to a hospital where such facilities exist.
With this direction, the court disposed of Malik’s petition, filed last year, seeking treatment at AIIMS or another super-speciality hospital in New Delhi or Srinagar.
Malik, through his lawyer, had moved the high court in November 2024, while he was on a hunger strike, seeking “urgent medical treatment and admission in the hospital owing to deteriorating health”.
At the time, his lawyers had highlighted that “he is not in a position to move his legs”, which prompted the court to direct the jail superintendent to ensure that necessary medical treatment is provided to him.
Malik had claimed he suffers from serious cardiac and kidney ailments and requires advanced clinical care.
Malik’s counsel argued before the Delhi High Court that Tihar Jail does not have a cardiologist to address his medical needs. The Centre, however, informed the court that a fresh notification has been issued restricting Malik’s movement outside the jail or beyond Delhi.
According to the notification issued by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) through the Ministry of Home Affairs on December 19, 2023, effective from December 11, 2023, and periodically re-issued, Malik cannot be taken out of Tihar Jail or outside the jurisdiction of the National Capital Territory of Delhi under Section 268 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Malik has objected to these orders, arguing that they are being passed “routinely and mechanically” without assessing the threat perception posed to or by him, or considering other relevant factors.
In his plea, he highlighted that he suffers from multiple serious ailments, including cardiac and kidney issues, and that he was last taken to AIIMS for a check-up in May 2022, where he saw a cardiologist and nephrologist. He also claimed to have lost 14 kg, alleging that the jail authorities’ “negligent and mala fide acts” had caused a deterioration in his health.
Malik underwent an aortic valve replacement in 1992 and has been on life-saving anticoagulants since. He has also undergone four ear surgeries and five procedures for kidney stones, according to his petition.
Malik had filed a similar request in February 2024, after which, on the court’s direction, he was taken to AIIMS for examination and treatment. A medical status report dated February 13, 2024, filed by the Superintendent of Prisons, stated that Malik had “voluntarily and of his own accord stopped taking the prescribed anticoagulant (Acitrom 4 mg) for about ten days” and had also refused basic health checks, including BP, pulse, temperature, and oxygen saturation.
Malik was convicted in May 2022 after pleading guilty to charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The trial court ruled that his case did not fall under the “rarest of rare” category that warrants the death penalty. The NIA later approached the High Court seeking a death sentence, a plea that remains pending.
Charges were framed in 2022 against Malik and several others, including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Salahuddin, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Bitta Karate and others, while three accused were discharged.
Yasin Malik, once a prominent face of the armed movement in Kashmir and later an advocate of non-violent resistance, remains one of the region’s most political figures.
Born in Srinagar’s Maisuma neighbourhood, Malik rose to prominence after the 1987 Kashmir elections, which he and many others alleged were rigged to keep pro-Kashmiri independence candidates out. The disillusionment that followed helped trigger the armed rebellion in 1989.
At 21, after witnessing electoral irregularities as a polling agent, Malik crossed over to Pakistan, where he is accused of receiving arms training. He later returned to Kashmir to lead the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which carried out attacks on Indian security forces.
Malik reportedly fell out with Pakistan’s establishment over his insistence on Kashmir’s independence rather than accession to Pakistan. Rival groups backed by Pakistan, particularly Hizbul Mujahideen, grew in influence as Malik pursued a different political line.
He was arrested by Indian authorities in 1990 and claims he was interrogated in Delhi, including at a guest house in Mehrauli, where senior officials repeatedly urged him to abandon militancy.
After his release, Malik led street protests on issues such as custodial torture, enforced disappearances, human rights violations and the demand for political rights in Kashmir.
His repeated arrests strengthened his position as a leading face of Kashmiri politics.
His political trajectory changed sharply in 2019, after a suicide bombing in Pulwama killed 40 Indian soldiers.
Malik was arrested and the JKLF was banned. Old cases, including the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed and the 1990 killing of four Indian Air Force personnel, were reopened, with Malik claiming he had earlier been granted amnesty.
In May 2022, a special court sentenced him to two life terms and five additional 10-year rigorous imprisonment terms, along with a fine. He has been lodged in Tihar Jail since.
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