The Supreme Court on Friday directed separatist leader Yasin Malik to appear before a sessions court in Jammu and Kashmir via video-conferencing from New Delhi’s Tihar jail for examination and cross-examination in the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

A bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan passed the directions while dealing with an application filed by the CBI against transferring Malik to Srinagar on the grounds of his alleged links with several international terrorist organisations and him being a “national threat” whose presence in Jammu and Kashmir could endanger public safety and complicate security arrangements.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, representing the Jammu and Kashmir government, told the bench during the hearing that Malik was acting in tandem with other accused deliberately to delay the trial by insisting on being personally present before the court in Srinagar.

Mehta also informed the apex court that according to the report filed by the registrar of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the video-conferencing system was working properly in the sessions court where the trial was being held.

“Now that the facilities are in place, they can permit cross-examination. We will permit cross-examination through video-conferencing,” the bench observed.

Accordingly, the court asked Malik to appear through VC on the next date of hearing. The bench noted that the VC facilities at the Tihar jail were also sound. It added that relevant documents could be shown to the accused and the prosecution during examination and cross-examination.

According to the CBI, the separatist leader and many militants had earlier engaged lawyers of their choice to defend themselves in other cases and Malik’s decisionto argue his case himselfwas a ploy to compel the authorities to take him to Jammu and Kashmir.

“It clearly appears that Yasin Malik is fully aware that he would never be taken to J&K except under the pretext of attending the court proceedings personally,” the CBI had submitted before the top court.

The agency added that it was precisely for this reason he was trying to avoid the services of lawyers.