Who Was Sarla Bhat? Kashmiri Pandit Nurse's Rape-Murder Case Back In Focus After 36 Years

Last Updated:June 29, 2026, 21:39 IST

According to the SIA, progress in the case remained stalled for decades because witnesses were unwilling to testify due to fear and intimidation.

More than 36 years after the abduction, rape and murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, the Jammu and Kashmir Special Investigation Agency (SIA) has filed a chargesheet in the case, reviving one of the Valley’s most haunting terror cases.

The 737-page chargesheet names five accused, including JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik, marking a major development in the decades-old investigation.

All About Sarla Bhat

Sarla Bhat was a Kashmiri Pandit nurse from Anantnag who worked at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar. According to investigators, she continued attending her duties despite the tense security situation and growing militant threats in Kashmir in 1990.

On April 18, 1990, she was allegedly abducted by JKLF terrorists near the SKIMS campus. Her body was recovered the following day from Omer Colony in Srinagar. Investigators say she was held captive, tortured and later shot dead. A note allegedly left on her body accused her of being a “mukhbir", or informer, for security forces.

Bhat’s Rape-Murder Linked To Kashmiri Pandit Exodus

The case came to symbolise the violence faced by the Kashmiri Pandit community during the early years of militancy and the mass exodus from the Valley. Following her killing, militants allegedly attacked her family’s residence with a grenade, forcing her relatives to flee Kashmir.

According to the SIA, progress in the case remained stalled for decades because witnesses were unwilling to testify due to fear and intimidation. After taking over the investigation in March 2024, the agency re-examined records and gathered fresh witness testimonies along with forensic, ballistic and medical evidence.

The chargesheet names Yasin Malik, Khurshid Ahmad Chalkoo, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Mohammad Yousuf Sofi alias Idrees and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo as accused. While three of them have died, Chalkoo is believed to be in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and Malik is serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail in a terror funding case.

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