Hashimpura massacre case: Court to pronounce verdict tomorrow

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court is likely to pronounce tomorrow its verdict in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case in which 42 members of the Muslim community were killed after being allegedly picked up by Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel from a village in UP's Meerut district.

Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Jindal on January 21 had reserved the judgement in the case after concluding hearing arguments of the counsel for theprosecution, accused and victims.

According to the 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, it had said, adding 42 persons were declared to have perished in the massacre.

The charge sheet was filed before Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Ghaziabad, in 1996.

19 people 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.

At present, 16 accused are alive and out on bail. The CB-CID of Uttar Pradesh police, which probed the case, had listed 161 people as witnesses.