In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday permitted jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik to cross-examine witnesses through video conferencing from Tihar Jail in connection with two high-profile cases.

The decision came while hearing a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which sought the transfer of trial proceedings from Jammu to New Delhi. The cases pertain to the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed—daughter of former Union Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed—and the 1990 Srinagar shootout that resulted in the death of four Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel on January 25, 1990.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan reviewed reports submitted by the Registrar (IT) of the Delhi High Court and the Registrar General of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court. These reports detailed the availability of video conferencing facilities in both Tihar Jail and the Jammu sessions court.

The court noted that the sessions court in Jammu is "well-equipped" to facilitate virtual hearings, including the cross-examination of witnesses. It also recorded Malik's submission that he did not wish to appoint a lawyer for the cross-examination and would conduct it himself.

Rubaiya Sayeed, now residing in Tamil Nadu, was released five days after her abduction in 1989 following the release of five militants by the then V.P. Singh-led central government. She is a prosecution witness in the case, which was later handed over to the CBI in the early 1990s.

Yasin Malik is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, where he is serving a sentence following his conviction by a special NIA court in May 2023 in a terror-funding case.