Supreme Court grants bail to 8 convicts in 1987 Hashimpura massacre case
Supreme Court grants bail to 8 convicts in 1987 Hashimpura massacre case
M.U.H
06/12/202464
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to eight convicts involved in 1987 Hashimpura massacre, in which 38 people were killed by personnel from the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC).
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih considered the arguments made by senior advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, representing four of the convicts. Tiwari pointed out that his clients had been incarcerated for an extended period after the Delhi High Court overturned their acquittal by the trial court.
The Hashimpura massacre took place on May 22, 1987, when PAC personnel from the 41st Battalion’s ‘C-Company’ allegedly rounded up around 50 Muslim men from Hashimpura, a locality in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, amid communal unrest.
The victims were taken to the outskirts of the city, where they were shot and their bodies discarded in a canal. The massacre resulted in the deaths of 38 individuals, with only five survivors to bear witness to the horrific event.
Tiwari, representing four of the appellants—Sami Ullah, Niranjan Lal, Mahesh Prasad, and Jaipal Singh—argued that his clients had been imprisoned for over six years since the High Court’s judgment.
He pointed that the trial court had previously acquitted them and that their conduct during the trial and appeal had been exemplary. He also argued that the High Court’s reversal of the trial court’s well-reasoned acquittal was based on incorrect grounds.
Taking these submissions into account, the Supreme Court granted bail to the eight convicts awaiting trial.
