Yasin Malik Offers Himself for Gallows in Sarla Bhat Murder Case
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Srinagar, September03: In a dramatic development, jailed separatist leader and chief of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik, has told a court that he will no longer defend himself in the 1990 murder case of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat and said the death penalty may be considered for him.
Malik said his decision to withdraw from the proceedings should not be treated as an admission of guilt. He claimed he had been falsely implicated because of political circumstances but said he had taken the decision after considerable deliberation and performing Istikhara, an Islamic prayer seeking guidance before an important decision.
“I will no longer contest the trial and the death penalty may be considered for me,” Malik said in his statement.
Malik is already serving a life sentence in Tihar after his conviction in a 2022 terror-funding case. The NIA has sought enhancement of that sentence to death.
In the same statement, Malik announced the end of his 16-year marriage to Pakistani artist and activist Mushaal Hussein Mullick. The couple married in 2009 and have a 13-year-old daughter, Razia Sultana.
Malik, lodged in Tihar Jail since 2019, submitted a 25-page written statement before the Additional Sessions Court, Srinagar, through his lawyer Abu Adil Pandit on Wednesday. The court has listed the matter for hearing on September 19.
Malik said his decision to withdraw from the proceedings should not be treated as an admission of guilt. He claimed he had been falsely implicated because of political circumstances but said he had taken the decision after considerable deliberation and performing Istikhara, an Islamic prayer seeking guidance before an important decision.
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Sarla Bhat, a staff nurse at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), was abducted in April 1990 at the height of militancy in Kashmir. Her body was recovered days later. Her killing became one of the cases that deepened fear and insecurity among the Kashmiri Pandit community during the exodus from the Valley.
वाद शब्दांनी जिंकता येतो; हात उचलून नाही.
— विद्यानंद बापट (@Vidyanand_Bapat) September 3, 2026
The case remained dormant for more than three decades until the State Investigation Agency (SIA) reopened it in 2025 and conducted raids at locations linked to Malik and other accused. The chargesheet names Malik, Khurshid Ahmed Chalku, Abdul Hameed Sheikh, Mohammad Yusuf Sofi and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo. Chalku remains absconding, while the other three accused are dead.
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In the same statement, Malik announced the end of his 16-year marriage to Pakistani artist and activist Mushaal Hussein Mullick. The couple married in 2009 and have a 13-year-old daughter, Razia Sultana.