Imprisoned Jammu and Kashmir secessionist leader Yasin Malik went on a hunger strike in Delhi's Tihar jail on Friday as he alleged that a case against him is not being investigated properly and that he is not been given a fair trial.
Malik is facing charges over his alleged part in the 1989 abduction of Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's daughter, Rubina Sayeed. The trial is set to take place on August 23, and Malik is seeking an in-person appearance, which he has been denied.
On Thursday, Malik's sister Abida said that she had received eight-page will from Malik in which he informed his sister about his decision on "fasting to death."
"To call for my virtual presence via video-conferencing only when the case for which I am being tried has reached a critical level that the prosecution witness is being exhibited, it is tantamount to nothing but malicious and vindictive prosecution," Malik said, as per Newsclick. "I have still been deliberately deprived of the basic right to defend myself, which construes a straight violation of Article 114 and Article 21 of the Constitution."
According to media reports, senior jail officials as well as his sister, Abida, and mother, Atiqa Begum, tried to convince Malik to end his hunger strike, but he refused.
"He (Malik) said this is his last resort and called it a farewell," Abida said.
Malik, who is the head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which is banned in India under anti-terror law, was arrested in 2019, the same year the Indian authorities outlawed his organization, which has been advocating for the restive Himalayan region's independence from India, as well as from Pakistan.
Earlier, in May, Malik was convicted by a court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a 2017 terror funding case and he was also found guilty by the court under several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).