The filing of a 737-page chargesheet by the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) in the 1990 murder of government nurse Sarla Bhat is a reminder that justice, though painfully slow, need not be permanently denied. It has taken 36 long years for investigators to bring the case to this stage.

The delay is extraordinary, but the very fact that the law has finally caught up with one of Kashmir's darkest crimes offers a measure of reassurance to all who believe in the rule of law. The investigation deserves appreciation for the sheer perseverance it demanded. Reconstructing a murder after more than three decades is no ordinary task.

Witnesses had grown old, many crossing the age of 70, while some had died before they........

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