16 ex-PAC jawans held guilty for Hashimpura massacre

16 ex-PAC jawans held guilty for Hashimpura massacre

News:

1. The Delhi High Court bench has reversed the trial court’s verdict and sent 16 former jawans to life imprisonment, holding them guilty of murder in the 1987 Hashimpura Massacre case.

Important Facts:

2. About Hashimpura Massacre:

• This incident took place 31 years ago at Hashimpura near Meerut.
• 42 to 45 elderly men and boys belonging to the Muslim community were rounded up by the PAC personnel, packed into a truck and taken away.
• 38 of them were later shot dead and the bodies were thrown into the Gang nahar (canal) and Hindon river.
• Five of them survived to recount the horror.

3. The 19 PAC personnel were made accused in the primary trial that took place at the Tees Hazari Court in Delhi.
4. However the trial court ruled in 2015 that killings took place but the accused could not be proven guilty of the crime and were acquitted by the court.
5. The Delhi High Court reversed the trial court’s verdict and all 16 former PAC personnel were held guilty of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and destruction of evidence.
6. The high court termed the massacre “targeted killing” of unarmed and defenceless people by the police. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of the convicts.