36 Years Later: Kashmir Police Charge Yasin Malik in 1990 Murder of Pandit Nurse

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Police's State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Monday filed a 737-page chargesheet in the 1990 abduction, torture, and murder of 27-year-old Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, naming Mohammad Yasin Malik, the former chief commander of the proscribed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), and four associates as the main conspirators. The case had remained unsolved for over three decades until the probe was reopened in March 2024, six months before the assembly elections.

Three of the co-accused died before the case could go to trial. The investigating agency attributed the 36-year delay to what it termed 'an atmosphere of fear and intimidation created by terrorist organisations in J&K,' which prevented witnesses from coming forward.

The chargesheet, filed in the special additional sessions judge's court in Srinagar that handles cases under the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, states that Malik assigned Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi (alias Idrees), and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo to carry out the abduction and killing.

Sarla Bhat, a native of south Kashmir's Anantnag district, worked as a staff nurse in the neonatology ward of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). On April 18, 1990, she was abducted from the Habba Khatoon Hostel of the government-run college. She was among the few Kashmiri Pandits who chose to remain in the Valley despite escalating violence targeting the community.

According to the chargesheet, Bhat was taken to the Illahibagh-Lal Bazar area, where she was allegedly tortured repeatedly before being shot dead. Her mutilated, bullet-riddled body was found the next day at Omer Colony Malabagh in downtown Srinagar, along with a note accusing her of being a 'mukhbir' (informant) for security forces.

The SIA stated that the investigation established the 'informer' accusation was a 'fabricated pretext to justify a premeditated assassination.' The agency described the chargesheet as 'a tribute to the memory of a victim who was denied justice for decades, a reaffirmation of the rule of law and a message of hope to countless victims of terrorism and their families.'

Malik is currently in judicial custody in Delhi's Tihar Jail in connection with another terror case. Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, the alleged trigger puller, is absconding and is suspected to have fled to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Proclamation proceedings have been initiated against him, the SIA said.

The chargesheet cites offences under sections 364 (abduction), 341 (wrongful restraint), 302 (murder), read with 34, 201, and 120-B of the erstwhile Ranbir Penal Code; sections 3(2), 3(3), 4, and 6 of TADA; and sections 7 and 27 of the Indian Arms Act, 1959.

The case was transferred to the SIA on March 18, 2024, under the orders of the Director General of Police. The SIA told special judge Manjeet Rai that before its takeover, terrorist activity for three decades 'severely impacted the ability of witnesses to come forward and disclose material facts.' The agency described the evidence as 'a formidable body of oral, documentary, forensic, ballistic, medical and electronic evidence accumulated over decades and meticulously analysed.'