Yasin Malik pleads not guilty in Sarla Bhat murder case, asks court for capital punishment
Jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Mohammad Yasin Malik has pleaded not guilty in the 1990 murder case of Kashmiri Pandit woman Sarla Bhat, while telling a special court that he would no longer contest the trial and asking for capital punishment.
Malik, 60, who is lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail, submitted a 25-page affidavit before the court, describing the charges against him as a “fabricated story” and claiming that the case had been constructed decades later to falsely implicate him.
“Considering my personal circumstances and after deep reflection, I have decided not to contest the trial proceedings further,” Malik said in the affidavit. He added that the decision should not be treated as an admission of guilt or acceptance of any prosecution allegation and requested capital punishment.
The affidavit was submitted after the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) filed a chargesheet on June 29 in connection with the April 19, 1990 killing of Bhat. Malik has been named as an accused in the case.
Malik strongly denied the allegations, calling the prosecution's case a “subsequent invention”. He claimed that he was critically injured during a BSF raid at Narwara in April 1990, fell into a coma and was reported dead by news outlets, including Doordarshan.
“It is incomprehensible how a person who was unconscious, fighting for his own survival and widely believed to be dead could have participated in, directed or orchestrated the commission of the offence,” he said.
He also denied allegations that Bhat was a security informer or that she had any role in the BSF raid.
Malik questioned the SIA's reliance on a handwritten JKLF note allegedly recovered from the scene and naming him along with Javaid Mir and Sheikh Abdul Hamid. He asked why none of the three was implicated in the case for nearly three decades if the document had genuinely been recovered at the time.
He further pointed out that nearly two dozen TADA cases were registered against him after his arrest in August 1990, but he was not accused in Bhat's killing.
Malik also used the affidavit to announce his decision to separate from his wife, Mushaal Hussein Mullick, citing his prolonged incarceration and lack of communication with his family. He said he had taken the decision after performing Istikhara, a prayer seeking divine guidance.
Addressing his 13-year-old daughter, Raziya Sultana, Malik said he had not heard from her for eight years and urged her to remain in contact with her grandparents.
He ended the affidavit with verses by poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and passages from the Quran, describing it as his “final statement of conscience” and saying he left the accusations and decisions in the hands of Almighty Allah.
