Court reserves verdict in 1987 Hashimpura Massacre case

A Delhi court would next month announce its verdict in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case in which 42 members of Muslim community were killed after being allegedly picked up by Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel from a village in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh.
Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Jindal fixed the case for final verdict on February 21 after concluding hearing arguments of the counsels for prosecution, accused and the victims.
According to prosecution, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel had come to village Hashimpura on May 22, 1987, and picked up about 50 Muslims as a congregation of 500 had gathered outside a mosque there.

The victims were shot at by the accused personnel and their bodies thrown into a canal. 42 persons were declared to have perished in the massacre, it had alleged.
The charge sheet was filed before Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Ghaziabad in 1996.
19 persons were named as accused and charges for the alleged offences of murder, attempt to murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy were framed against 17 of them by the court here in 2006, after the case was transferred to Delhi on a Supreme Court direction in September 2002.
Currently 16 accused are alive and out on bail.

The CB-CID of Uttar Pradesh police, which probed the case, had listed 161 persons as witnesses.