A witness in the 1989 abduction case of Dr Rubaiya Sayeed on Friday identified the accused Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik when he appeared via video-conferencing before a special court in Jammu from Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

The eyewitness corroborated that he had gone to Sopore in Baramulla district of north Kashmir at the time of the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed and identified the place and persons connected with it, the prosecution said, terming it a major success for their side.

On July 15 last year, Rubaiya, daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had identified Malik as one among the five accused in the case.

Malik, currently serving a jail term in a terror funding case, was not produced in the court physically due to a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order restricting his movement. He had observed a 10-day hunger strike in July last year after the Centre did not respond to his plea to physically appear in the Jammu court hearing the abduction case.

"Today, there was a case of Yasin Malik with the special judge of TADA court with regard to Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case. We had summoned two eyewitnesses -- number 7 and number 13. The eyewitness number 13 was present in the court and the eyewitness number 7 could not attend due to health reasons," senior public prosecutor S K Bhat told reporters.

The statement of the eyewitness (13) was recorded and Malik was present during the examination through virtual mode, he said, adding the other accused in the case were also present in the court.

The eyewitness, who identified Malik through virtual mode, also identified another accused Mohammad Zaman in the open court, Mr Bhat added.

"As per his statement, he met two accused in Khan guest house there and he identified both the accused, which is a major achievement for the prosecution," he said.

Mir, who is the prime accused in the kidnapping case after Malik, had taken Rubaiya Sayeed in his vehicle to Sopore from Srinagar and kept her at Khan guest house, the senior public prosecutor said. When the eyewitnesses returned to Srinagar, Mir gave them their vehicle and the vehicle of the eyewitnesses was kept in Sopore, he said.

Pointing out that the eyewitness identified the places and the accused twice in the court, Bhat said that the court has fixed March 31 as the next date asking the prosecution to produce two witnesses before it.

Rubaiya was abducted from near Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar on December 8, 1989 and freed five days later after the then V P Singh government, supported by the BJP at the Centre, released five terrorists in exchange.

Image source: Indian Express