The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to 10 convicts in the Hashimpura massacre case in Uttar Pradesh. It is about the year 1987. Around 35 people were shot dead by UP's Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) officers and soldiers.
According to news website Live Law, senior advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, who appeared before a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih, argued that the Delhi High Court had reversed the trial court's decision based on wrong facts.
In 2015, nearly 28 years after the incident, the trial court acquitted all the accused for lack of evidence. However, the Delhi High Court sentenced 16 people to life imprisonment in 2018. Advocate Tiwari argued that an appeal against the High Court decision is pending in the Supreme Court, but all have been in jail since 2018. For this reason he should be granted bail.
The PAC caught 42-45 people and put them in a yellow truck of C-Company. (File Photo)
what is Hashimpura Massacre? As reported by The Hindu, in the year 1987 there was communal tension in Meerut city in western Uttar Pradesh over the Babri Masjid dispute. Regarding this, the PAC and the army conducted a search operation in Hashimpura area of the city. Meanwhile, two rifles of PAC were looted and a relative of a major was killed.
After this, the PAC captured about 42-45 youths and old men and took them to the yellow truck of C-Company of 41st Battalion. However, instead of being taken to the police station, he was taken to a canal near Ghaziabad.
There the PAC jawans shot those people dead. Some bodies were thrown into the Ganga Canal and the rest into the Hindon River. In which 38 people died. The bodies of most of them were not found. Only 11 bodies were identified by their relatives. However, five people survived. During the firing he pretended to die and swam out of the water. A case was made based on his testimony.
Instead of taking the arrested people to the police station, they were taken to a canal near Ghaziabad.
Charge sheet filed after 9 years This incident shocked the minorities. The investigation of the case was handed over to CB-CID (Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department). A charge sheet was filed in the Criminal Court of Ghaziabad in 1996, almost 9 years after the horrific incident.
The Delhi High Court order shows that the Ghaziabad court had issued more than 20 warrants in three years, but all remained inconclusive. After some time, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Delhi on the petition of the victims' families.
All the accused were acquitted by the trial court on the basis of evidence In May 2006, a Delhi trial court framed charges against 19 accused on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, destruction of evidence and rioting. However, the negligence did not end here. After almost 8 years, in May 2014, the statements of the accused were recorded.
Meanwhile, three accused also died. The trial court acquitted all the remaining 16 accused in the next year i.e. 2015. The court said that the necessary evidence to link the accused with the murder was missing.
In 1996, almost 9 years after the incident, a charge sheet was filed in the Criminal Court of Ghaziabad.
Justice got after 31 years, all got life imprisonment The trial court's decision was challenged by the victims and their families in the Delhi High Court. The court allowed the National Human Rights Commission to intervene for further investigation. The High Court also allowed additional evidence to be adduced.
The High Court convicted each under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120-B (criminal conspiracy). On October 31, 2018, nearly 31 years after the incident, the High Court reversed the trial court's decision and sentenced all 16 accused to life imprisonment. However, after being found guilty, all of them appealed to the Supreme Court, which is pending.
The investigation of the case was handed over to CB-CID (Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department).
High Court said- Target killing of minorities took place The High Court termed the Hashimpura massacre as a custodial murder. Court said- this was target killing of minorities. It has been a long and difficult battle for the victims. The Crime Branch and Criminal Investigation Department of Uttar Pradesh had incriminated 66 PAC employees in their report.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
