Yasin Malik willing to face death penalty in Sarla Bhat case, announces divorce from Mushaal
Yasin Malik willing to face death penalty in Sarla Bhat case, announces divorce from Mushaal
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, has reportedly told a Srinagar court that he no longer wishes to contest the trial in the 1990 murder case of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat and is willing to face the death penalty.
Malik has also announced his decision to divorce his Pakistani wife, artist and activist Mushaal Hussein Mullick.
Malik submitted a 25-page written statement before the Additional Sessions Court in Srinagar on Wednesday through his lawyer, Abu Adil Pandit. The court has scheduled the next hearing for September 19
In his statement, Malik said he would no longer contest the proceedings in the Sarla Bhat murder case. However, he made it clear that his decision to withdraw from the trial should not be treated as an admission of guilt.
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“I will no longer contest the trial and the death penalty may be considered for me,” Malik said, according to reports.
Malik denies allegations
While announcing his decision, Malik maintained that he had been falsely implicated in the case due to political circumstances. He said the decision to withdraw from the proceedings was taken after careful deliberation and after performing Istikhara, an Islamic prayer traditionally offered before making an important decision.
Who was Sarla Bhat?
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Sarla Bhat was a Kashmiri Pandit staff nurse at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar. She was abducted in April 1990, during the peak of militancy in Kashmir, and her body was recovered days later.
The State Investigation Agency (SIA) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police reopened the case in 2025 and carried out searches at locations linked to Malik and other accused persons.
The chargesheet named Yasin Malik, Khurshid Ahmed Chalku, Abdul Hameed Sheikh, Mohammad Yusuf Sofi and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo.
History
Chalku remains absconding, while Sheikh, Sofi and Taploo have died. Malik is therefore the key surviving accused named in the case.
Yasin Malik announces divorce from Mushaal
In the same statement, Malik announced his decision to end his marriage to Mushaal Hussein Mullick.
The couple married in 2009 and have a daughter, Razia Sultana, who is 13 years old. “Through this affidavit, I also wish to address my wife and my daughter. For the last eight years, I have not been able to hear your voices or communicate with you, as I was not permitted phone calls or video conferencing with you. I know that my time with you has been limited and uncertain. You are Twenty (20) years younger than me, and I do not want you to spend the rest of your life carrying the burden of my circumstances or living as a widow. I therefore request you to find the courage to begin a new chapter of your life with dignity and hope. I shall always love, respect and remember both of you in this world and in the next life. Wherever my destiny takes me, my prayers, affection and blessings will always remain with you. That, before I will be hanged, I have taken the decision to separate you from the bond of our Nikah. I don’t know how I will pronounce separation from you – Nelson-Mandela helped me to pronounce my true feelings,” Malik wrote in the affidavit.
Yasin Malik’s separate terror-funding conviction
Malik’s latest statement comes more than four years after his conviction in a separate terror-funding case.
In May 2022, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Delhi convicted Malik after he declined to contest the charges. He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
The NIA has challenged the sentence and sought its enhancement to the death penalty.
“I shall personally never regret the life comrade Nomzamo and I tried to share together. Circumstance beyond our control, however, dictated it should be otherwise. I part from my wife with no recriminations. I embrace her with all the love and affection I have nursed for her inside and outside prison from the moment I first met her. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you will appreciate the pain I have gone through.”
Malik has been lodged in Tihar Jail since 2019.