The Big Question: Who is responsible for Hashimpura massacre?

Anil Narendra

According to prosecution, Police, PAC and the Army had run a search operation during Meerut riots in the month of Ramzaan on 22^nd March,1987 at Hashimpura Mohalla in front of Gulmarg Cinema on Hapur road and arrested around 50 persons of a particular community and took them in trucks to Police Line. After sunset, PAC personnel took the trucks to Ganga Cannal in Murad Nagar. Here the PAC shot them dead one by one and dumped their dead bodies in canal.  Hearing the sound of bullets, other youths sitting in a truck tried to rebel but the PAC open fired them with bullets. After the mass execution the truck was taken to Hindon River in Ghaziabad and the dead bodies were thrown into the River. Few of those who were shot survived. Babudin, one of the survivors, reached Link Road Police Station and lodged a report. Only after that Hashimpura incident came into the limelight. The death of 42 innocents was an example of horrifying killing in custody. And even the judgment that came after 28 years is very disappointing where all the accused are let free due to the inability of the witnesses to identify the accused. This court decision that came after 28 years can be called a distortion of justice. The reason of saying this is not to question the intention of the Judiciary system in India. The courts depend on facts and proof for delivering justice, which are to be firmly submitted to the court by the search agencies. If 28 years ago the case has not been boldly build to give justice to the deceased 42 people then it is the fault of intentional sluggishness in investigation or the uselessness of CID.  The court released all the accused due to the failure of all the five witness to recognize the culprits.  It is to be considered that all the five witnesses were the people who were allegedly taken prisoner with the other 42 people by the police. When the final judgment came at 3.30 pm on Saturday, thousands of people here were taken aback. People were expecting that the accused will face strict punishment but nobody ever expected that they will be released due to lack of evidence. Some people believed that at least the accused will get lifelong imprisonment. The devastated families regarded the Government as well as administration responsible in this matter and said that they will keep up their fight for justice. They will knock the doors of High Court. In the regime of Government, administration and justice, we will get very less examples of such incidences where in-between communal animosity the police arrest some innocent people and then kill them one by one in the darkness of the night. Such a barbaric act can be compared to Nazi and Hitler Regime or to the recent manslaughter in cast wars in Bathani Tola, Lakshmanpur Bathe and Shankar Bigha areas of Bihar, where the weaker section of the society have been repeatedly attacked by bullets of the elite casts. The Hashimpura case has happened not in some remote place but only within 50 to 60 kilometers from the country’s Capital. The massacre that pressed the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to come to Hashimpura, the then ruling congress party had insisted to give this case to CID for investigation instead of the CBI. If the case had been properly investigated then today the situation would have been absolutely different. If CID could not find the uniformed culprits and punish them then it showcases its incompetence or its bad intentions. Anyway this judgment can impart a wrong message. Country’s internal and external enemies can try to cite this decision and manipulate a certain community. But the truth is that such incident occurred not due to the support or non support of a certain community but due to the flaws of the system.  This decision has underlined the implication of sluggishness of the law and the need of improvement of the Police force.  Until the flaws in the Police and Judiciary system are removed, the fear of such decisions will remain which will make a jest of justice. Undoubtedly the doors of upper courts are open to the unfortunate families of Hashimpura but such incidences where a minority community is targeted and then the investigation is handled with a slack, gives a wrong image of such a country which is proud of its democratic rule and law and order.