By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
In a significant breakthrough in one of Kashmir’s most haunting terror cases, the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Monday filed a 737-page chargesheet in the 1990 abduction and murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, nearly 36 years after the crime.
The chargesheet names jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik as the principal accused, along with four other JKLF operatives.
Sarla Bhat, a 27-year-old staff nurse at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, was abducted in April 18 1990 at the height of militancy in the Kashmir Valley. Her mutilated body was recovered a day later. Investigators allege that she was targeted on the false suspicion of being a police informer, a charge the SIA has categorically rejected during its investigation.
The chargesheet, filed before a designated special court under the TADA/POTA and NIA Act, is based on extensive evidence, including witness statements, documentary records, forensic and ballistic reports, medical evidence, electronic material and detailed field investigations. Officials described the filing as a “historic milestone” in the pursuit of justice for victims of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
The case was reopened by the SIA in 2024 after remaining largely dormant for decades. Investigators conducted fresh raids, examined surviving witnesses and collected new evidence before completing the investigation.
The development has renewed hope among members of the Kashmiri Pandit community, many of whom have long demanded accountability for targeted killings during the early years of the insurgency.
he filing of the chargesheet marks a crucial legal step, although the trial is expected to be closely watched as the court begins proceedings in one of the Valley’s most sensitive and long-pending terror cases.