By TCN News,
New Delhi: Calling as what happened in the Hashimpura case as “far beyond a travesty of justice”, Amnesty International India has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India HL Dattu.
“It represents an absolute failure of India’s criminal justice system. From incompetent investigators to callous and possibly complicit governments to an achingly slow judiciary, the Hashimpura acquittal shows how impunity can flourish, and how the rights of victims to justice can be brazenly violated in today’s India,” it said in the letter, copies of which were released to the media.
(Courtesy: IE)
Text of the full letter:
On May 22, 1987, as many as 42 unarmed Muslim men were killed in cold blood in Hashimpura by members of Uttar Pradesh’s Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC). The killing was followed by a criminal investigation, a Commission of inquiry, court hearings in two states and depositions by scores of people, including five survivors who were thrown into a river and left for dead. For nearly 28 years, the victims and survivors of Hashimpura waited. Only to hear on March 21, 2015 from a Delhi trial court that nobody could be punished.
The Delhi trial court, while acquitting the 16 accused members of the Uttar Pradesh’s Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) said, “It is very painful to observe that several innocent persons have been traumatized and their lives have been taken by the State agency but the investigating agency as well as the prosecution have failed to bring on record the reliable material to establish the identity of culprits”.
“The accused person cannot be convicted,” the court said, “on the basis of scanty, unreliable and faulty investigation which has gaps and holes.”
What happened in the Hashimpura case is far beyond a travesty of justice. It represents an absolute failure of India’s criminal justice system. From incompetent investigators to callous and possibly complicit governments to an achingly slow judiciary, the Hashimpura acquittal shows how impunity can flourish, and how the rights of victims to justice can be brazenly violated in today’s India.
There were goof-ups too many to mention. One of the two original First Information Reports was destroyed. The weapons used to kill the victims were returned to the PAC, and continued to be used. The Delhi court observed: “The rifles have been produced in unsealed conditions during trial. Further, so many fires have been allegedly made but not even a single empty cartridge has been recovered or proved on record.” Evidence was neglected, important witnesses were left unquestioned, and an investigation was slowly allowed to decay. The investigation and trial dragged on for years.
“Justice” occupies pride of place in the Preamble to the Constitution of India. The right to remedy, covering truth, justice and reparation, is recognized under international law. But in Hashimpura, the actions of politicians, the police, and to some measure the courts, have ensured that justice has been denied.
The abject failure of the criminal justice system in Hashimpura must not remain a failure of Indian democracy.
Yours sincerely,
25 lakh Amnesty International India supporters who take injustice personally.
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