Politics
Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik has told an Indian court that he will no longer contest proceedings in the murder case of a nurse and has requested capital punishment, Indian and Kashmiri media reported.
Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik has told an Indian court that he will no longer contest proceedings in the 1990 murder case of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat and has asked the court to award him the death penalty.
Malik, chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was named by India’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) as one of five accused in the case. According to Indian and Kashmiri media reports, he submitted a 25-page affidavit from Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
In the affidavit, Malik said his decision not to contest the proceedings should not be considered an admission of guilt or an acceptance of the prosecution’s allegations. He nevertheless asked the court to impose capital punishment.
Malik also denied the murder allegations and challenged the prosecution’s claims regarding an alleged JKLF note and the circumstances surrounding Bhat’s killing.
In a separate emotional passage, Malik said he had been unable to speak to his wife and daughter by telephone for eight years. He urged his wife, who he said is 20 years younger than him, to begin a new chapter of her life rather than remain burdened by his imprisonment.
The case concerns Sarla Bhat, a 27-year-old staff nurse at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, who was abducted and killed in April 1990 during a period of intense militancy and widespread displacement of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley.
Malik’s request for the death penalty does not automatically determine his sentence. The court will decide the case based on the evidence, the legal arguments and applicable Indian law.
