JKLF chief Yasin Malik willing to face death penalty in Sarla Bhat case

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, who is currently lodged in Central Jail No 7, Tihar, has purportedly read the writing on the wall.

Malik reportedly triggered a furore by submitting before the 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. Pleading not guilty, 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 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. I will no longer contest the trial, and the death penalty may be considered for me,” Malik said, in his affidavit attested by the Deputy Superintendent, Central Jail no 7, Tihar, New Delhi on August 27, 2026.

While announcing his decision, Malik maintained that he had been falsely implicated in the case due to political circumstances. In his statement, Malik denied ordering or participating in the 1990 murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat.  

Malik also rejected an allegation that Bhat was an informer responsible for a Border Security Force raid in Srinagar in which he was critically injured.   Sarla Bhat was neither working for the security forces in any covert capacity nor was she in any manner responsible for the raid conducted at Narwara on 8 April 1990,” Malik stated in his affidavit.  The State Investigation Agency filed a chargesheet on June 29, 2026, in connection with Bhat’s murder on April 19, 1990, naming Malik as one of the accused more than 36 years after the killing. According to Malik, three SIA officers had questioned him in Tihar Jail on June 2 and 3. He says they confronted him with two allegations.

The second allegation, as reproduced in the affidavit, was that the JKLF suspected Bhat, a nurse at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Soura, of informing security forces about Malik’s presence at the house of Hafiz Bazaz in Narwara and that Malik consequently ordered her killing.

Malik disputed both the allegations in his lengthy statement. 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.

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.