By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has allowed the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to intervene in the appeals filed by the families of victims of the Hashimpura massacre of 1987 against the acquittal of all accused by the trial court.
The trial court in Delhi had acquitted 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel on March 21 this year. On May 22, 1987, 42 Muslims were allegedly killed by the PAC personnel in Hashimpura village of Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh and their bodies were thrown into a canal.
On Thursday, a Division Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice R.K. Gauba accepted the intervention application of NHRC and posted the case for further hearing on February 17, 2016. NHRC had filed intervention on May 25, seeking further inquiry into the 28-year-old incident and to set up enforceable guidelines to be followed by investigative agencies in cases of custodial violence.
In its application, the NHRC had termed Hashimpura massacre as the worst incident of targeted custodial killing by the police since Independence and suggested that in such custodial death cases, the burden of proof should be put on the police officer.
While admitting the appeal of victim’s kin, High Court had said the occurrence of the incident was not in dispute and even the trial court said this in its verdict while acquitting the accused policemen.
In August the bench had remarked, “The issue requires serious consideration and it cannot be just brushed aside. We will hear the parties in detail.”
Reference:
Miscarriage of Justice in Hashimpura
What happened in Hashimpura 28 years ago?