1987 Hashimpura massacre: Supreme Court grants bail to 8 convicts

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to eight convicts in a case pertaining to the killing of 42 Muslim men from Uttar Pradesh’s Hashimpura in 1987 [Sami Ullah vs Zulfikar Nasir]..Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih took note of the fact that the convicts have been in jail since 2018 after the Delhi High Court reversed their acquittal in 2018..Senior Advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, appearing for the accused, contended that High Court’s decision in 2018 was based on erroneous grounds and that the conduct of accused was exemplary during the pendency of the case. Tiwari stated that the appeal against the 2018 High court judgment is pending before the apex court and was listed several times but not heard yet. "....The Hon’ble High Court, on erroneous grounds, has reversed a well-reasoned and judicially sound judgment of the Ld. Trial Court that was unwarranted in the peculiar facts and evidence available on records of the case, after completely losing sight of the fact that just because two views were possible after appreciating the evidence and testimonies of the witnesses, a judgment of acquittal cannot be set aside," the bail plea said.The Court after considering the submissions proceeded to grant bail to the convicts..The incident happened on May 22, 1987, when Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) picked up 42 Muslim men from Hashimpura in Meerut district, put them on a lorry, drove them to a nearby canal, shot them and then dumped their bodies in the canlIn March 2015, a trial court in Delhi acquitted the 16 PAC personnel on grounds of insufficient evidence.On October 31, 2018, a Delhi High Court bench comprising Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel set aside the trial court’s judgement and convicted the accused.Their appeals against the same are pending before the apex court..[Read Order]