Overview

• The NIA argues that guilty pleas should not automatically bar the death penalty, warning that acceptance of pleas could erode the policy framework for capital punishment in terror cases.
• A trial court in May 2022 imposed life imprisonment after finding Malik’s offences under UAPA and the IPC did not satisfy the Supreme Court’s “rarest of rare” threshold for a death sentence.
• Malik has twice declined a court-appointed lawyer, insisting on self-representation via video from Tihar Jail to contest the NIA’s appeal.
• The NIA’s 2017 charge-sheet accuses Malik of conspiring with Pakistan-based groups to foment unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and outlines a leadership hierarchy within the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
• In a separate trial, a retired IAF officer identified Malik as the shooter in a 1990 attack that killed four personnel and injured others.