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Uttar Pradesh government today approached the Delhi High Court against a trial court's decision acquitting 16 policemen of the charges of murder and other crimes in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case in which 42 people were killed in Meerut city.
On March 21, a trial court gave the benefit of doubt and acquitted 16 former Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel accused of killing 42 people in Meerut, saying lack of evidence has failed to establish their identification in the case.
The state government has appealed against that order in which the policemen were held not guilty of the charges dealing with murder, attempt to murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy.
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The government in its appeal said that there are "lapses" in the trial court's findings.
Those acquitted in the case were Suresh Chand Sharma, Niranjan Lal, Kamal Singh, Budhi Singh, Basant Ballab, Kunwar Pal Singh, Budha Singh, Rambir Singh, Leela Dhar, Hambir Singh, Mokam Singh, Shami Ullaha, Sarwan Kumar, Jaipal Singh, Mahesh Prasad and Ram Dhayan.
According to the prosecution, 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 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 the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Ghaziabad, in 1996.
19 people were named as accused and charges for 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.
The 16 accused acquitted in the case are the ones still alive. Three of them died during the trial.
