In a case involving her 1989 kidnapping, Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, appeared before a special CBI court on July 15. According to the authorities, she named JKLF leader Yasin Malik and three other individuals as her kidnappers.
Rubaiya Sayeed has never before been summoned to testify in this case. The CBI, who took over the case’s investigation in early 1990, has Sayeed on its list of prosecution witnesses. She currently resides in Tamil Nadu. The case includes Malik, the leader of the outlawed JKLF who was recently given a life term in jail for sponsoring terrorism.
She was abducted by terrorists while his father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was serving as the union home minister in the VP Singh administration. She was freed later in exchange for jailed terrorists by the government.
Advocates present at the hearing verified that Sayeed gave a recorded testimony in court and that she was able to identify everyone using pictures provided to her by the CBI during the inquiry.
PDP spokesperson Anil Sethi has confirmed the news. He said that all of the kidnappers have been named by her. The next hearing will take place on the 23rd July. She has been requested to attend, subject to Yasin Malik’s availability. She has reiterated her prior statement to the CBI.
Over 30 years after the incident, in January 2021, the TADA court ruled that charges would be framed against Malik and nine other people in the kidnapping case. Rubaiya Sayeed was called before the TADA court to give a statement. The court had also ordered Yasin Malik, who had been found guilty of supporting terrorism and given a life sentence, to appear.
Malik participated at the hearing via video conference on Wednesday. He also asked the court for physical presence at the next hearing. TADA Court is hearing the Rubaiya kidnapping case and the murder of four Indian Air Force officers in which he was allegedly involved.
On December 8, 1989, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front abducted Rubaiya Sayeed. Yasin Malik was the JKLF’s leader at the time. Her kidnapping by the JKLF came with a demand that five of its members be released from prison. At the time, Rubaiya, then 23 years old, was a medical intern at Lal Ded Memorial Women’s Hospital.