New Delhi: Kashmiri Separatist leader Yasin Malik, who wanted Jammu and Kashmir to be a ‘separate’ territory, will now spend the rest of his life, all alone, ‘separated’ from the rest of the world at Jail No. 7 of the Tihar Prison. Malik, 56, was sentenced to life on Wednesday by a special NIA court in Delhi. During the previous hearing, Malik told the Court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him. He may not even challenge the sentencing in higher courts as he has himself pleaded guilty which means by all means, Malik will spend the rest of his life in Jail.
But the catch is, Malik will not be just separated from the outside world, he is even kept alone inside the prison, away from nearly 13,000 prisoners. “He is already in jail no.7 and will continue there presently. He is alone in his cell,” Director General (Prisons), Sandeep Goyal, told IANS. The Tihar prison’s Jail Number 7 has been always in the limelight as it has housed several high-profile prisoners, including former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, former Union Minister A. Raja, Sahara head Subrata Roy, Christian Michel among several others. On October 12, as many as 32 Tihar Jail officials were found complicit with the former Unitech promoters. It was alleged that the Chandra brothers, Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra, were conducting business from inside the Tihar Jail in connivance with the prison staff. Interestingly, all the said 32 jail officials were posted in Tihar’s jail number 7.
The Court in its Wednesday’s sentencing had awarded two life sentences and five punishments of 10 years of ‘Rigorous Imprisonment’ each to the convict. Rigorous imprisonment means confinement of the offender in a manner that increases the hardship of the jail term based upon the nature of the offence by subjecting the offender to special arrangements in the jail. However, despite court orders, Malik will not be given any work inside the prison. “He won’t be assigned work at all due to security reasons,” the top prison official said, adding the work is assigned subject to security concerns and the decision is taken as per jail rules.
As per the jail conduct report of Yasin Malik, his conduct has been satisfactory inside the jail. The jail records depict that no jail punishment has been recorded against him. “Regarding the convict’s inclination towards reformation, it is submitted that during his incarceration, behaviour of convict towards co-inmates as well as jail administration has remained cordial and peaceful. Convict seems to be inclined towards reformation,” the sentence order read. Meanwhile, sources said that Tihar authorities have enhanced security arrangements outside Malik’s ward in Jail No 7. “He will be kept under maximum security cover,” sources said. They also infomed that the convicted terrorist will always be under the watch through CCTV cameras.—IANS