In the present matter, on May 24, 2022, a trial court here had sentenced Malik to life imprisonment after holding him guilty for offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.Malik had pleaded guilty to the charges, including those under the UAPA, and was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.Appealing against the sentence, the NIA has emphasised that a terrorist cannot be sentenced life term only because he has pleaded guilty and chosen not to go through trial.While seeking enhancement of the sentence to death penalty, the NIA has said if such dreaded terrorists are not given capital punishment on account of pleading guilty, there would be complete erosion of the sentencing policy, and terrorists would have a way out to avoid capital punishment.A life sentence, the NIA has asserted, is not commensurate with the crime committed by terrorists when the nation and families of soldiers have suffered loss of lives, and that the trial court’s conclusion that Malik’s crimes did not fall within the category of the “rarest of the rare cases” for grant of death penalty is “ex-facie legally flawed and completely unsustainable”.The trial court, which had rejected the NIA’s plea for death penalty, had said the crimes committed by Malik struck at the “heart of the idea of India” and were intended to forcefully secede Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India.It had, however, noted that the case was not the “rarest of rare”, warranting death penalty.
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