Neeharika Sharma
JK News Today
With the filing of a charge sheet on Monday-June 29, 2026, in one of the most brutal murders during the start of militancy in Kashmir in 1990 – that of Sarkla Bhat , a Kashmiri Pandit lady in her 20s – the State Investigating Agency of the Jammu and Kashmir Police , has proven that no terror act will ever go unpunished.
The relentless investigators of the SIA have made it clear that they can dig and find out those hiding behind the layers of 36 calendar years. As a result , five members of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, including its chief Yasin Malik , have been brought closer to the imminent punishment in the incident that shook and shocked the Kashmiri Pandit community and the humanity at large.
On Monday
The SIA filed a 737- page chargesheet against banned JKLF chief Yasin Malik and four others . The chargesheet was filed before a designated NIA court, 36 years after the case went cold during a period when Pakistan-sponsored militancy was peaking. The terrorists targeted minority men and women, dubbing them as “ mukhbir” ( informers), shooting them dead or, more horrendously hanging them from trees.
Sarla Bhat , a young nurse , worked at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences ( SKIMS), Srinagar. On the night of April 12, 1990 , she was returning from the hospital to her hostel inside the SKIMS campus when JKLD terrorists abducted her in a car , tortured and criminally assaulted her before shooting her dead.
Her mutilated body was recovered on 19 April 1990 from the roadside in Srinagar’s Mallabagh area, with a note beside it branding her a “mukhbir” . According to the SIA, the investigation unearthed crucial forensic evidences linking members of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to the crime
The investigation was carried out under the supervision of the Director of the SIA, Nitish Kumar, Additional DGP (CID). He guided every aspect of the investigations to bring to the fore the accused in one of the most foul murders in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. The minute monitoring of the case, tracing its roots and circumstances, ensured it was never wrongfully closed. Gathering evidence had become quite difficult due to the hesitancy of those who could have shed light on the case. Nevertheless, Nitish Kumar and his team managed to bring out every detail, resulting in the framing of charges against all those involved, whether dead or alive.
It has been proven that the determined pursuit of the case goes beyond mere crime and punishment . This was not an easy task in itself , as it involved unearthing a truth that had been sought to be buried under the layers of time
It is reinforcing the faith of all the terror victims and the community that fled the valley en masse in law enforcement . The SIA worked hard to gather scientifically verified evidence against the terrorists and those who sheltered them
