The survivors and family members of victims in the 27-year-old Hashimpura massacre on Thursday submitted before a Delhi court that there was enough credible evidence for conviction of all the accused personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) for allegedly abducting and killing close to 42 persons of a particular community.
Arguing on their behalf, Rebecca John submitted before Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Jindal that the eye-witnesses’ accounts of five prosecution witnesses; the evidence of the injuries sustained by one of the police personnel accused in the indiscriminate firing inside the truck in which the victims were packed and taken to Gang Nahar before being shot and thrown into it and dumped in Hindon river in Ghazibad; the washing of the blood-stained vehicle after the incident; plugging of the hole in the truck caused during the firing are the credible evidence which pointed to the culpability of the accused in the killing.
Besides, the survivors had identified their images in the photographs which a photo journalist had taken when they were herded together on the roadside in Meerut. The victims’ families had also identified their killed kith and kin in the photos when they were shown to them in the court, Ms. John further submitted during her final argument.
Admitting that the five survivor witnesses, four of whom were shot at by the accused persons by 303-bore rifles and thrown into the canal, had not identified the accused persons, Ms. John further stated that all of them had given a similar account of how the accused police personnel had taken the victims into their custody, put them into a PAC truck, took them to the canal and later to the river and threw them into them.
The four of the five eye-witnesses had somehow survived after being shot and thrown into the canal, though the police had presumed that they were dead, counsel for the victim said while submitting their accounts before the court. The fifth eye-witness was not shot at but was thrown into the Hindon river as the accused suspected him to be dead because of blood of other victims splattered over his body.
Citing a number of Supreme Court judgments, Ms. John argued that the rules of evidence applicable in general criminal cases would not apply to this case as it was custodial killings in which the accused police personnel had to explain how they were killed.
Referring to the washing of blood stains on the truck, Ms. John said that the then District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police of Ghaziabad had testified that though the trucks were in routine washed in the police line, this truck was washed at ``odd hours’’. There was also the presence of ``bloody water’’ on the ground where the truck was washed, Ms. John said quoting the witnesses’ evidence.
Post-mortem reports
Referring to the post-mortem reports, Ms. John said that the bullet injuries were ante-mortem and there were black scars on the victim’s parts which had sustained them. The post-mortem reports also said that the injuries were two days’ old. The victims had been shot on 22, May, 1987.
Regarding the injury sustained by one of the accused personnel, Ms. John said that he was taken for treatment by the platoon commander of the battalion on May 23, and the doctor who had treated him opined that the wound was ``half-day’’ old.
While concluding her argument, Ms. John urged the court to convict all the accused as well as grant monetary compensation to the survivors and the family members of those killed, though it could not compensate their killing by the accused persons.
The killings had occurred during riots in Meerut city and the victims were picked up from the Hashimpura Mohalla of the city by the police personnel of 41st company of the PAC during a search operation.
There were a total of 19 accused in the case. Some of them passed away during the trial.
Counsel for the accused has taken the plea that the investigation has defects and there are discrepancies in the prosecutions witnesses’ accounts. Their counsel also drew the attention of the court that the eye-witnesses had not identified the accused persons.
