Srinagar, June 29 (JKNS): In a landmark breakthrough in the investigation of legacy terror crimes, the State Investigation Agency (SIA), Kashmir has filed a comprehensive 737-page chargesheet before a special court in Srinagar in the 1990 abduction, torture and killing of SKIMS nurse Sarla Bhat.
Details available with news agency JKNS, SIA Kashmir has filed a 737-page comprehensive chargesheet before the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, TADA/POTA, Special Judge designated under the NIA Act, Srinagar, in the abduction, torture and brutal killing of Ms. Sarla Bhat, a staff nurse at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar, who was killed by JKLF terrorists on 18 April 1990.
The case was transferred to SIA J&K on 18 March 2024 under the orders of the DGP, J&K.
The voluminous chargesheet, painstakingly compiled after an exhaustive investigation, brings together a formidable body of oral, documentary, forensic, ballistic, medical and electronic evidence accumulated over decades and meticulously analysed by SIA Kashmir.
The filing of the chargesheet after nearly 35 years marks a historic milestone in the pursuit of justice for victims of terrorism and stands as one of the most significant breakthroughs in the investigation of legacy terror crimes in Jammu & Kashmir.
More importantly, the chargesheet sends a powerful and unequivocal message that time can never become a shield for terrorism. No matter how many years have elapsed, those responsible for terrorist atrocities will continue to remain answerable before the law.
The case demonstrates that while terrorism may delay justice through fear, intimidation and violence, it can never permanently defeat the rule of law.
The case relates to one of the most barbaric terrorist crimes committed during the early phase of terrorism in Kashmir.
Ms. Sarla Bhat was abducted from the vicinity of SKIMS on 18 April 1990, subjected to brutal torture and physical assault, and thereafter horrendously killed through automatic rifle fire at Omer Colony, Malbagh, Srinagar.
For decades, the case remained unresolved owing to the extraordinary circumstances prevailing during the peak years of terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir.
The atmosphere of fear, intimidation and terror created by terrorist organisations had severely impacted the ability of witnesses to come forward and disclose material facts.
Terrorist organisations had created an environment where silence was enforced through threats and violence, allowing many heinous crimes to remain buried beneath layers of fear and coercion.
The Sarla Bhat case became one such symbol of the dark chapter of terrorism that engulfed the Kashmir Valley.
Yet, neither the memory of the victim nor the quest for justice faded with time.
Upon being entrusted to SIA Kashmir in March 2024, the case was subjected to a comprehensive and scientific investigation.
Despite the lapse of more than three and a half decades, investigators painstakingly reconstructed the sequence of events through protected witness testimonies, independent eyewitness accounts, forensic and ballistic analysis, medical evidence, documentary records, electronic evidence and extensive field investigations.
The investigation has conclusively established that the killing of Ms. Sarla Bhat was not an isolated act of violence but part of a larger terrorist conspiracy orchestrated under the command and control of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
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