The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to 8 convicts inculpated in the infamous 1987 Hashimpura massacre, in which 38 people were killed by personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC).
The ruling came after a bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih heard arguments from senior advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, representing four of the convicts.
Tiwari argued that his clients—Sami Ullah, Niranjan Lal, Mahesh Prasad, and Jaipal Singh—had already served over six years in prison following the reversal of their acquittal by the Delhi High Court. The trial court had originally acquitted them due to insufficient evidence, but the high court overturned this decision in 2018, convicting them under sections related to murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy.
Tiwari claimed that the high court’s decision to reverse the trial court’s acquittals was based on erroneous grounds and emphasized the exemplary conduct of the accused during the trial and appeal process.
Taking note of these submissions, the Supreme Court granted bail to the eight convicts whose cases were still pending.
The Hashimpura Massacre
The Hashimpura massacre occurred on May 22, 1987, in the midst of communal tensions in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. PAC personnel from the 41st Battalion’s “C-Company” allegedly rounded up around 50 Muslim men from Hashimpura and took them to the outskirts of the city. There, under the pretext of relocating them to a safer area, the men were shot dead and their bodies dumped in a canal. Only five survivors were left to recount the brutal killings.
Legal Proceedings & Convictions
Initially, in 2015, the trial court acquitted 16 PAC personnel due to a lack of evidence to establish their involvement in the massacre. However, in 2018, the Delhi High Court reversed this decision, convicting the 16 men and sentencing them to life imprisonment under charges including murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy.
The convicts filed appeals against the high court’s verdict, which were pending before the Supreme Court. A chargesheet was filed against 19 PAC personnel, including platoon commander Surender Pal Singh. While 3 of the accused died during the trial, the remaining 16 were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The convicted individuals include Suresh Chand Sharma, Niranjan Lal, Kamal Singh, Ram Bir Singh, Sami Ullah, Mahesh Prasad Singh, Jai Pal Singh, Ram Dhiyan, Arun Kumar, Lila Dhar Lohni, Hamir Singh, Kunwar Pal Singh, Buda Singh, Budhi Singh, Mohkam Singh, and Basant Ballabh.
This latest decision by the Supreme Court, granting bail to eight of the convicts, brings another chapter to the ongoing legal saga of the Hashimpura massacre, one of the most chilling incidents of targeted violence in India’s history.
