In a stunning twist from Tihar, separatist leader and jailed chief of the banned terror outfit, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik, has offered himself for the gallows in the 1990 Sarla Bhat murder case, declaring he will not defend the trial even as he announced divorce from his Pakistani wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick.
“I will no longer contest the trial and the death penalty may be considered for me,” Malik told the court.
Malik wrote that for the last eight years he has not been allowed to speak to his wife on phone or see her on video call in jail, nor contact his family. In an emotional note to Mushaal, he wrote: “I have taken this decision with great pain. 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. For his daughter, Malik left an emotional appeal. He also expressed regret for staying away from the family and not being able to spend time with them.
He asked Razia to take care of her grandmother – his mother – and to speak to her for at least five minutes every day so that she feels the family’s support in this difficult time.
It is not the first time Malik has taken such a stand. The NIA has since been seeking enhancement of his life term to death sentence. The chargesheet named Malik, Khurshid Ahmed Chalku, Abdul Hameed Sheikh, Mohammad Yusuf Sofi and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo.
In May 2022, when the special NIA court in Delhi convicted him in a terror-funding case, he had refused to contest the charges and was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2025, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of the state police reopened the case and conducted raids at locations linked to Malik and others.
