Chargesheet Filed Against Yasin Malik After 36 Years in Sarla Bhat Rape and Murder Case
A chargesheet has been filed against Yasin Malik in the Sarla Bhat rape and murder case after thirty six years alleging the crime was part of targeted violence against Kashmiri Pandits.
Srinagar: In a major legal development, authorities have filed a chargesheet against Yasin Malik in connection with the abduction, rape and murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, more than three decades after the crime shocked the Kashmir Valley.
The chargesheet, submitted before a Special TADA Court in Srinagar, alleges that the killing was not an isolated act of terrorism. Investigators claim it formed part of a broader campaign of violence carried out in 1990 to create fear among the Kashmiri Pandit community and force their mass migration from the Valley.
According to the investigation, Sarla Bhat was working as a nurse at the Sher i Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar when she was abducted by militants in April 1990. Investigators believe information about her was passed to the attackers by individuals linked to the hospital.
The probe states that she was held captive, subjected to brutal sexual assault and later shot dead. Her body was reportedly abandoned on a roadside on April 19, 1990. The case has long been cited as one of the most horrific crimes committed during the period of escalating militancy in Kashmir.
For years, the investigation remained stalled because of the collapse of law and order and the prevailing security situation at the time. In recent years, however, the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency reopened several old terrorism related cases, gathered fresh evidence and ultimately filed the chargesheet against Yasin Malik and his alleged associates.
Yasin Malik is already serving a life sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail after being convicted in a terror funding case. He has also been named in other high profile cases linked to the militancy of the early 1990s, including the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed and the killing of Indian Air Force personnel. The filing of the chargesheet in the Sarla Bhat case is expected to add to the legal proceedings against him.
The allegations in the chargesheet are part of the prosecution’s case and will be subject to judicial examination during the court process.
