Chargesheet Against Yasin Malik in 1990 Murder of Kashmiri Pandit Nurse Sarla Bhat

The Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) has filed a 737-page chargesheet in a special court, naming Yasin Malik, the Kashmiri leader and former JKLF chief, as a key conspirator in the 1990 abduction and murder of Sarla Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit nurse.

Sarla Bhat, 27, who worked at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar, was abducted from her hostel on April 18, 1990. Her body was recovered days later in a Srinagar area with multiple gunshot wounds and signs of torture. The incident occurred amid the intense unrest and targeted violence in the Kashmir Valley that led to the exodus of many Kashmiri Pandit families.

According to the chargesheet, the SIA investigation has linked Yasin Malik, who was active with the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) at the time, along with four other individuals to the case. Three of the named suspects are reported to be deceased, while one is said to have fled the region. The agency reconstructed the events based on witness statements and available records from the period.

Yasin Malik, currently imprisoned in Delhi’s Tihar Jail on separate charges, has been a prominent voice in Kashmiri political and separatist circles for decades. The filing of the chargesheet after 36 years marks a significant step in addressing one of the unresolved cases from the early 1990s turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir.

The development comes as part of broader efforts to revisit historical cases from that era, with reactions expected from various political and community groups in the region.