Yasin Malik's political movement continued to be violent: Delhi Court turns down claim he became Gandhian after 1994

Yasin Malik cannot invoke Mahatma Gandhi because for Gandhi there was no place for violence while Malik's political movement continued to be violent and he never condemned violence in the valley, a Delhi Court said on Wednesday while dismissing Malik's claim that he had become a Gandhian after 1994 [NIA v. Yasin Malik]..Special Judge Parveen Singh highlighted that evidence against Malik, who had pleaded guilty in the case, belied his claims that he had embraced non-violence. "It only took one small incident of violence at Chauri Chaura for the Mahatma to call off the entire non cooperation movement but the convict despite large scale of violence engulfing the valley neither condemned the violence nor withdrew his calendar of protests, which had led to the said violence", the judge underlined in his 20-page order.The entire movement was planned to be a violent movement and large scale violence ensued is a matter of fact, the judge further said..During the hearing on his sentence, Malik had contended that he gave up arms in 1994 and there was no evidence to prove the allegations that he was involved in terrorist activities after that.The Court, on the contrary, noted,"There was no reformation of this convict. It may be correct that the convict may have given up the gun in the year 1994, but he had never expressed any regret for the violence he had committed prior to the year 1994.".He also added that Malik could not claim to be a follower of Gandhi as the Gandhian principle has no place for violence."I must observe here that the convict cannot invoke the Mahatma and claim to be his follower because in Mahatma Gandhi's principles, there was no place for violence, howsoever high the objective might be," the judge opined. .Malik also claimed that he had engaged with various Prime Ministers of India who had given him a political platform and they could not be called 'fools" for giving opportunity to a person who engaged in terrorist activities.However, the NIA Court observed that Malik betrayed the good intentions of the government by choosing the violent path. "Betraying the good intentions of government he took a different path to orchestrate violence in the guise of political struggle. ...the evidence on the basis of which charges were framed and to which convict has pleaded guilty, speaks otherwise," the Court underscored..The Court had in the present case framed charges after noting that it was prima facie proved that Malik and Shabir Shah, Rashid Engineer, Altaf Fantoosh, Masrat and Hurriyat/Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) were the direct recipients of terror funds.The Court had also accepted Malik's guilt plea after being satisfied that it was given voluntarily and after due legal consultation, and full knowledge of the consequences of the charges against him. It had, therefore, convicted him of offences under Section 120B, 121, 121A of Indian Penal Code and Sections 13 and 15 of UAPA read with 120B of Indian Penal Code besides Sections 17, 18, 20, 38 and 39 of UAPA.And after a brief hearing on his sentencing, Malik was awarded life imprisonment by the Special NIA Judge.Read more about the sentence handed down to Malik for various offences here..[Read order]