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ON RECORD
"NIA can break separatists' backbone"
Rupinder Singh Sodhi was appointed as a Delhi High Court Judge in July 1999. During his tenure as a High Court Judge, he handled several highprofile cases, including the sensational Jessica Lall, Naina Sahni, Priyadarshini Mattoo , Shashi Nath Jha and Lalit Suneja murder ones. Earlier, as a senior practising Supreme Cour t lawyer, he had defended various criminal cases, which include those involving Satwant Singh, assassin of Indira Gandhi and Siukha-Jinda ( assassin of Gen Vaidya). He also defended Ahmad Omar Seed Sheikh, a British National of the Pakistan origin responsible for killing Daniel Pearl of Wall Street Journal in Pakistan. In an exclusive Inter view with R C GANJOO, Justice Sodhi said, "if investigation continues systematically and scientifically by NIA, there is every chance of cracking the back- bone of nefarious ac tivities of the separatists." EXCERPTS Justice Rupinder Singh Sodhi Q : How would you describe the National Investigation Agency (NIA) operations being conducted against terror funding sources in Jammu and Kashmir.
A : No government or
country can sleep over what is
happening. The NIA is doing a
good job . They have been able
to get to the root of the
problem. The local vested
interests are, to my mind,
more dangerous than the
external threats posed by
Pakistan. Q: Legally, what are the stringent actions to be taken to nail terror funding sources. A: It is the duty of the state to maintain rule of law. You can't permit anybody to be above law. Separatist leaders are furthering their vested interest. And that vested interest is easy money. India is a free country. Kashmir is a part of India. They have everything available as free citizens. I don't know how do they ask for "freedom from freedom" ? Q : As a lawyer how would you have represented them as a defence counsel ? And as a judge what could have been your observation ? A: As a lawyer, I would defend them by pointing out procedural illegalities, if any. As a judge I would say any incriminating material capable of being converted into evidence, even if wrongly collected, would be admissible. Q: Are our laws sufficient to punish the people involved in terror funding ? A: The existing laws are
sufficient to deal with any
situation, be it a terrorist
movement, or abetment to
terrorism. Q :Will the raids, being conducted by the NIA, yield fruitful results ? A: The present raids which
have been conducted by
the NIA have already yielded material which is
extremely incriminating and
can be used against the
accused persons. Q : Will not Pakistan's ISI agency change its strategy after the exposure of their funding source ? A : ISI is not a new agency. The ISI is bound to find alternative routes to continue funneling money into Kashmir by creating new leaders and exploiting senseless, unemployed and highly surcharged aimless youth into believing that they would be better off joining Pakistan. |