Mohammad Usman, Babudin, Majibur Rehman, Naeem and Zulfikar Nasir. All five men have several things in common.
Two of these being bullet wounds and their long wait for justice, along with other victims of the 1987 Hashimpura massacre. These men and others from their community were shot allegedly by a unit of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) before being thrown in canals.
On Tuesday, these men and women whose male relatives were allegedly rounded up during a joint operation by the PAC and the Army and later shot, relived the horror and the agonising 28-year wait. Following the March 21 Delhi court verdict, that gave a clean chit to all 16 accused PAC personnel, they now wonder who is responsible for the killings?
In May 1987, Zulfikar had just finished writing his high school exams and was spending his vacations learning how to weave in Hashimpura. On the afternoon of May 22, he and all the men in the locality were asked to step out of their homes. They were then divided into three groups — young, old and children.
“They loaded us in different trucks. All young men were taken to Gang canal in Muradnagar. They dragged us out and then shot us. Two men held me…I pretended to be dead. I was then thrown in the canal, where I held on to underwater vegetation. Later, a man helped me. I got medical aid and reached Ghaziabad. Thereafter, I narrated my tale to the then Janta Party MP Shahbuddin. It was then that a press conference was organised by Janta Party MP Chandrashekhar. And for the first time, I told my tale to the world.”
Like Zulfikar’s is the tale of Majibur. The Darbhanga resident had come to Hashimpura to work on the loom. While he survived that day, his father and uncle were not so lucky.
Babudin, also from Darbhanga, had come to the district to learn weaving. He was only 17 when he was taken away by the PAC. Babudin was allegedly dumped in Hindon and rescued by the then Ghaziabad Superintendent of Police. A first information report was lodged by him, where he alleged the involvement of the PAC.
Naeem was also shot and thrown in Gang canal. He somehow managed to reach Ghaziabad and returned home two months later.
The women of Hashimpura recall how they too were victim that day. Zaibunisa is one of them. She gave birth to a daughter the same day her husband Mohammad Iqbal was taken by the PAC and never returned home.
Activist-advocate Vrinda Grover, who represented the victims in court, said the verdict was a miscarriage of justice. She also lamented the ‘conspiracy’ by State to ensure that justice is not served even though it was very easy to have ascertained the identity of the PAC personnel involved.
Ms. Grover, other activists and victims met under the head ‘Justice for Hashimpura Committee’ and spoke on how the verdict was a failure of justice and that the fight will go on.
Civil rights activist and former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajindar Sachar spoke about how at every step, various governments tried to mess up the probe. He added that the government should consider this case for compensation.
The victims were granted compensation by the Uttar Pradesh government, but the meagre amount of Rs.4.2 lakh per family ended up getting distributed in the entire extended family under the Muslim Personal Law.
