The Supreme Court and the Central government were equally surprised to spot Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who is serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail in a terror-funding case, waiting his turn in the courtroom to argue his case in-person on Friday.
Malik was seen with a posse of the prison security staff in the courtroom of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta.
The Bench asked what a life convict was doing appearing in-person. Both Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor S.V. Raju criticised the jail authorities for bringing Malik, a high-security prisoner, to the top court in such a “careless and cavalier manner”.
