Srinagar, March 25, KNT: Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday called on the Government of India to reconsider the life imprisonment of Aasiya Andrabi, urging that she be granted parole on humanitarian grounds, citing her age and prolonged incarceration.
Speaking to reporters during a plantation drive at her party office in Srinagar, Mufti said the concept of life imprisonment should be revisited and limited to a fixed term, as was previously practiced.
The remarks come following the sentencing of Andrabi by a Delhi court to life imprisonment, while her associates, Nahida Nasreen and Sofi Fehmeeda, were sentenced to 30 years in prison in a case related to the alleged waging of war against India.
Mehbooba Mufti said that Andrabi has already spent a significant period in custody and that her case should be viewed through a humanitarian lens.
“Life imprisonment should be abolished and kept limited to 14 years as it used to be,” Mufti said, adding that the government has previously released several convicts on parole.
She urged authorities to extend similar consideration to Andrabi. “The Government of India should reconsider this and release her on parole, keeping her old age into consideration. It is a humane matter,” she said.
Mufti clarified that her appeal was not an endorsement of Andrabi’s ideology. “I have never agreed with the ideology followed by her, but keeping humanity into view, she should be released,” she added. [KNT]
