Chargesheet too late, what’s the point now: Sarla Bhat’s family

JammuUpdated: Jun 30, 2026 01:25 AM IST On Monday, the State Investigation Agency filed a 737-page chargesheet in a special NIA court in Srinagar, naming the then JKLF chief Yasin Malik as a key accused in her abduction and killing. (File Photo)The State Investigation Agency may have filed a chargesheet against Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik and four others for the 1990 abduction and killing of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, but the Bhat family believes it has come too late. A Kashmiri Pandit nurse at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute for Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Sarla was abducted from her hostel by JKLF militants on April 14, 1990, and her bullet-riddled body was found five days later in old Srinagar city.In its 737-page chargesheet filed in a special court in Srinagar, the SIA named Malik as a key accused in her abduction and killing. Officials have called it a “historic milestone in the pursuit of justice for victims of terrorism” and “one of the most significant breakthroughs in the investigation of legacy terror crimes in Jammu and Kashmir”. But Bhat family says the government should have acted sooner. “What kind of justice is it? It’s much too delayed,” says her cousin, Prediman Krishan Bhat. “What’s the point now? For us, it’s a joke. It has no relevance.” In an earlier conversation with The Indian Express, Bhat spoke of the blast outside the family home after Sarla’s funeral and the subsequent attack by a mob when the family went to the cremation ground to collect her ashes. The attacks forced the family to leave Kashmir with “just a briefcase of documents and a bag of clothes”, he had said.Story continues below this ad On April 14, 1990, Sarla had just finished her shift and was leaving the SKIMS main building when JKLF militants abducted her in a waiting vehicle, accusing her of being a police informer. After her body was found, allegations of torture and sexual assault emerged. “We visited her home in Anantnag after the body was found, and stayed the night,” Prediman said. “The next morning, an uncle and I were given the duty of collecting her ashes from the cremation ground while the rest of the family gathered their valuables so they could move to Jammu.”