Kashmiri Pandit Genocide: After 35 Years Sarla Bhat Murder Case Reopens

Killing of Kashmiri Pandit woman in 1990: The case of the 1990 assassination of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat rests in cold cases after nearly 32 years, but the Jammu & Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) has launched a massive search operation on August 12, 2025. Eight raids were conducted at various places in central Kashmir, including the house of a former leader of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Peer Noorul Haq Shah alias Air Marshal.

Who was Sarla Bhat?

Sarla Bhat, aged 27 at the time of her kidnapping, was a nurse at SKIMS Hospital in Soura, Srinagar and was abducted in a hostel on April 18, 1990 in the middle of insurgency in Kashmir. She has later been found dead in the center of Srinagar with marks of torture and bullet wounds. A tag attached to her body called her a police informer. Although an FIR was filed later, at Nigeen Police Station, no arrests were made and following a period of time, this case went cold too.

Her assassination has since become one of the most haunting incidents of the early 1990s insurgency time in Kashmir that had led to mass movement of the Kashmiri Pandits out of the Valley. Her family and the rest of the Pandit community demanded justice and went on to seek justice over the years but without success with the case symbolizing the existing issues to do with law-and-order during that period.

The officials have stated that the recent raids have resulted in the retrieval of documents incriminating the case, computer and electronics, and other evidence that the officials believe can provide insights into the conspiracy and conspirators. The operation is in line with a bigger government plan to re-investigate cases of long outstanding targeted killings, especially those that were associated with the early nineties exodus.

According to the SIA, the new investigation was triggered by new developments, including intelligence and evidence, meaning that the ongoing attempt may bring justice to the perpetrators who have so far remained active (politically) or even in exile. Another possibility that the investigators are examining is the cross border terror links to the murder as the JKLF, to which the murder was involved, has been subsequently banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

This reopening is not only a legal procedure, but to the displaced Pandit community, this is a long overdue recognition that their trauma exists. Activists feel that the reopened investigation would become an example of reopening other unresolved murders of the period.

As this case continues to progress, most of the people are waiting to see whether this fresh steam can bring the justice that was never served to the family of Sarla Bhat in the past 35 years and transform a loss into a gain of justice and closure.

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