After a treacherous wait of more than 30 long years, a special TADA (Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act) Court in Jammu on Monday framed charges against Yasin Malik, a Kashmiri separatist and Chief of banned Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and six others allegedly involved in 'gruesome' killing of four IAF personnel in Srinagar on January 25, 1990.
Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna along with three other IAF personnel were allegedly killed by JKLF terrorists lead by Yasin Malik in Rawalpora area of Srinagar.
Out of the seven accused in the case, five of them were produced in person in the TADA court while Yasin Malik and another accused Showkat Bakshi appeared via video-conferencing from their respective jails in Tihar and Ambedkar Nagar.
The charges were framed under section 302, 307 RPC, section3 (3) and section 4(1) of TADA Act, 1987 and section 7/27 of Arms Act 1959, section 120-B of RPC.
The court room in Jammu also witnessed some chaos while charges were being read out to the accused. Yasin Malik and all others,waiting since morning, pleaded not guilty and sought trial. The next date of hearing in the case has been fixed on March 30.
Earlier on Saturday, decks were cleared to frame charges against the seven accused when special Judge in its order had observed there was enough prima-facie evidence for prosecuting Malik for involvement in the killing of the IAF officials.
Yasin Malik, currently lodged in Tihar jail, is also facing trial for the kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in December 1989.
69 year old Shalini Khanna, fighting for justice for last three decades on behalf of her martyred husband, Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna, is keenly awaiting outcome of the case.
When the trial in the case began after a long gap in September 2019, she had told reporters at her residence in Jammu, “I had taken a pledge to fight this battle till my last breath.Now i leave it to the wisdom of Judges to punish the killers of my husband as per law of the land”.
Referring to the reopening of murder case against Yasin Malik, responsible for killing her husband and three other IAF personnel on January 25, 1990, Shalini Khanna had told reporters , “if the government has decided to reopen the case i think they are going to deliver justice”.