Rubaiya Sayeed told to appear in TADA court
Jammu, May 27
A TADA court in Jammu today summoned Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in her 1989 kidnapping case in which charges against separatist leader Yasin Malik and others were framed in January 2021.
Special Judge Ashwani Sharma summoned Rubaiya as witness in the case which will be heard on July 15. The summons comes a day after Yasin was awarded life sentence in a terror-funding case by a Delhi court. Rubaiya was doing internship at Lal Ded Hospital, Srinagar, when she was abducted. She was freed from captivity five days later on December 13 after the then VP Singh government, supported by the BJP at the Centre, released five terrorists of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in her exchange.
The CBI took over the probe in 1990 and the case went into virtual cold storage. It was revived after Malik was picked up by the NIA in 2019 on charges of terror funding. The CBI moved an application summoning Rubaiya as she was listed as a prosecution witness.
The charges, which were framed last year, read that Rubaiya was wrongfully confined to secure release of five terrorists—Hamid Sheikh, Altaf Ahmed Bhat, Noor Mohd Kalwal, Javed Ahmed Zarger and Sher Khan of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, who were lodged in different jails.
It was also stated that Malik and other accused assembled in the house of one Mushtaq Ahmed Lone and deliberated upon the kidnapping plan. Charged against Malik were framed under the RPC, the TADA Act and the Arms Act.
1989 abduction case
- Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of ex-minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, was kidnapped in 1989.
- She was freed five days later after the Central Government released five JKLF terrorists.
