The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to two more former members of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), including an 82-year-old, whose acquittal by a trial court in the Hashimpura murder case was overturned by the Delhi High Court.
They spent six years in jail after the High Court quashed their acquittal in 2018 by a bench of Justices AS Oka and AG Masih. On December 6, the Supreme Court granted bail to eight accused in the case, all of whom were former members. of the PAC.
According to the prosecution’s case, communal riots took place in Meerut district in 1987. Consequently, police, paramilitary and military forces were deployed in Hashimpura. Mohalla For riot control and security. It consisted of ‘C-Company’ of the 41st Battalion of the PAC. On May 21, 1987, the brother of an Army Major was killed Mohalla Two rifles of PAC near Hashimpura have been looted by some anti-social elements.
On the evening of 22 May, PAC personnel reportedly rounded up around 42-45 Muslim men and took them to a truck. They were later shot dead and their bodies thrown into the Ganges Canal and the Hindon Canal. Some of those shot survived. Only 11 of the 38 killed were identified by their relatives. The rest of the bodies have not been found.
The case was sent to Delhi
The investigation into the incident was handed over to the Crime Branch, Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID), Uttar Pradesh. The CB-CID filed a charge sheet in 1996 in the Criminal Court of Ghaziabad. In the first charge sheet, 18 officers of the PAC were named as accused. The 19th accused has been produced in the supplementary charge sheet. As per Supreme Court orders passed in 2002 and 2007, the hearing of the cases was shifted to Delhi.
Three accused died during the trial. The remaining 16 people were acquitted by the court.
On appeal, the High Court allowed the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to intervene and, on his plea, allowed additional evidence to be recorded by the trial court, while the appeals were kept pending.
The High Court then overturned the acquittal and convicted the accused on charges of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and loss of evidence of the crime. In reaching its conclusion, it also relied on additional evidence on record. The convict has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
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