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Trial court, in 2015, had acquitted the 16 accused PAC personnel, citing a lack of evidence to establish their identification and involvement
The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to eight convicts from the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case wherein 38 people were killed by the Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and SG Masih was told that the appeal filed by the convicts against their conviction was pending before the apex court for the last six years and had been listed several times but never been heard.
Senior Advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, appearing for the convicts further submitted that they were suffering prolonged incarceration after the High Court had reversed their acquittal by the trial court in the case.
Top Court was further told that the reversal of the trial court's well-reasoned acquittal by the high court was based on erroneous grounds.
The Hashimpura massacre occurred on May 22, 1987 when Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel, allegedly rounded up approximately 50 Muslim men from Hashimpura in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, during communal tensions.
The victims were taken to the city outskirts on the pretext of being ferried to a safer place due to communal riots. They were fatally shot there, and their bodies were dumped in a canal.
In 2015, a trial court acquitted all the accused. Later in October 2018, a High Court bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel reversed the acquittal and sentenced 16 persons to life imprisonment.
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