Now Reading: J&K SIA probes 1990 killings of Kashmiri Pandit poet, nurse
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J&K SIA probes 1990 killings of Kashmiri Pandit poet, nurse
J&K police's State Investigation Agency (SIA) searched nine locations on Wednesday in connection with the 1990 abduction and murder of Kashmiri Pandit poet Sarvanand Kaul Premi and his younger son Verinder. The…
The Story in Brief
J&K police's State Investigation Agency (SIA) searched nine locations on Wednesday in connection with the 1990 abduction and murder of Kashmiri Pandit poet Sarvanand Kaul Premi and his younger son Verinder. The probe was revived after decades. On June 29, the SIA filed a chargesheet in the killing of nurse Sarla Bhat, who was abducted, tortured and shot dead in April 1990.
Premi, a 66-year-old Gandhian and teacher, was abducted from his village near Kokernag on April 30, 1990, and killed the next day. Bhat, 27, a staff nurse at SKIMS, was taken from her hostel by JKLF, tortured and killed. Her bullet-riddled body was found in downtown Srinagar. The killings were part of a wave of violence that drove a mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley.
The Indian Opinion
Some dismiss these decades-old probes as political theatre, but for families who lost everything, they are long overdue. Others worry that reopening old cases stretches SIA resources away from current crimes. The real test is whether the agency can secure convictions in cases where evidence has decayed and witnesses have scattered. With 209 Kashmiri Pandits killed since 1990, according to a 2010 assembly statement, how many more cold cases will be revived?
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
