In a separate personal announcement, Malik said he was ending his 16-year marriage to Pakistani activist Mushaal Hussein Mullick, saying he wanted her and their daughter to begin a new chapter with “dignity and hope”.
BY PC Bureau
September 3: Jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik has told a Srinagar court that he will no longer contest the trial in the 1990 murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, while saying that the death penalty may be considered in his case.
Malik has also announced that he is ending his 16-year marriage to Pakistani artist and activist Mushaal Hussein Mullick.
Lodged in Tihar Jail since 2019, Malik submitted a 25-page written statement before the Additional Sessions Court in Srinagar on Wednesday through his lawyer, Abu Adil Pandit. The court has fixed September 19 for the next hearing.
In his statement, Malik said he had decided not to contest the proceedings after careful deliberation. He stressed, however, that the decision should not be interpreted as an admission of guilt. He maintained that he had been falsely implicated because of political circumstances.
“I will no longer contest the trial and the death penalty may be considered for me,” Malik said in the statement.
He said the decision was also taken after performing Istikhara, an Islamic prayer through which a person seeks divine guidance before making an important or difficult decision.
🚨 BIG! Yasin Malik says he will NOT contest trial, seeks death penalty
In an affidavit, Malik said the decision followed “Istikhara”, an Islamic prayer seeking guidance before major decisions.
=> Court should not waste time. Give him what he wants asap🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/t6vfJy4Db6
— The Analyzer (News Updates🗞️) (@Indian_Analyzer) September 2, 2026
Istikhara does not amount to a formal religious verdict or a prediction of the future. In Islamic tradition, it is a prayer asking God to guide a person towards what is best and to facilitate the right course while turning away what is harmful. It is commonly performed when someone faces a difficult choice and is uncertain about which path to take. Malik’s reference to Istikhara therefore places his decision in a personal religious framework, rather than presenting the prayer itself as determining the legal outcome of his case.
Malik adopted a similar position in 2022 when he declined to contest charges in a terror-funding case before a special National Investigation Agency court in Delhi. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. The NIA has subsequently sought enhancement of the sentence to death.
Marriage ends after 16 years
In the same statement, Malik announced that he was ending his marriage to Mushaal Hussein Mullick. The couple married in 2009 and have a 13-year-old daughter, Razia Sultana.
Mushaal served as a special adviser on human rights and women empowerment in Pakistan’s caretaker government between 2023 and 2025.
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Malik said he had not been allowed to speak to his wife by telephone or video call for eight years and had also been unable to maintain contact with his family.
“I have taken this decision with great pain,” he wrote in a message addressed to Mushaal. “I don’t want Mushaal to live her whole life carrying the burden of this situation or living like a widow. I want her to start a new chapter of her life with dignity and hope.”
Addressing his daughter, Malik urged her to look after his mother and speak to her for at least five minutes every day so that she continued to feel the support of her family. He also expressed regret over being unable to spend time with his wife and daughter.
Sarla Bhat murder case
Sarla Bhat, a staff nurse at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar, was abducted in April 1990 at the height of militancy in the Valley. Her body was recovered days later.
Her killing became one of the cases that deepened fear and insecurity among Kashmiri Pandits during the period of escalating militancy. The investigation remained unresolved for more than three decades.
The State Investigation Agency reopened the case in 2025 and conducted searches in connection with Malik and others. Its chargesheet named Malik along with Khurshid Ahmed Chalku, Abdul Hameed Sheikh, Mohammad Yusuf Sofi and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo.
Chalku remains absconding, while Sheikh, Sofi and Taploo have died, leaving Malik as the principal living accused in the case.
Malik is also facing trial in a separate murder case in Jammu while serving his life sentence in Tihar Jail.
