Meerut Mass Carnage: 34 years later, will there be justice?

Image Courtesy:muslimmirror.com

A division Bench of the Allahabad High Court on April 19, 2021 passed an order directing the state of Uttar Pradesh to file a reply as a counter-affidavit to a writ petition filed by senior journalist Qurban Ali, who witnessed and covered the massacre of 72 Muslims in Maliana village in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh on May 23, 1987. The other petitioner, in this case, is Vibhuti Narain Rai, IPS, former Director-General of Police (DGP) Uttar Pradesh, a victim Ismail, who lost eleven family members and a lawyer Rashid, who conducted the case in a trial court in Meerut. The petitioners pointed out that for over three decades the trial court at Meerut was at a standstill because the court papers, including the FIR of the case, were mysteriously missing. In the meantime, UP Police and PAC personnel were accused of intimidating victims and witnesses not to depose. The trial has been going on in the Maliana case in a session court in Meerut for the last 34 years. According to the petitioners, in this case, key documents, including the FIR, have gone missing, more than 800 dates have been given since proceedings began. The last hearing took place four years ago!

In a parallel case of Hasimpura, where more than fifty Muslim youths were picked up by the UP Police and PAC on May 22, 1987, and later were killed in cold blood at the upper Ganga Canal in Murad Nagar and at Hindon river near the UP-Delhi border, the case was transferred to Delhi. The Delhi High Court ultimately convicted sixteen accused PAC personnel and sentenced them to life imprisonment on October 31, 2018.

Though the counsel for the state argued in the Meerit-Maliana case, that the case was very old and there was no merit in the case, the Allahabad High court division bench insisted that the State should file a counter-affidavit. Noted human rights activist and senior Supreme Court lawyer Colin Gonsalves appeared on behalf of the petitioners.

Maliana Case, 1987, Looking Back 34 years later

Maliana-Meerut Carnage, May 23, 1987

May 23, 2021 was the 34th anniversary of the ghastly killings in a village of Meerut district in which more than seventy-two Muslims were killed by the U.P.s notorious Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and other custodial killings of more than 12 Muslims in Meerut and Fatehgarh jails. There has been no justice even after three decades.

This is a saga of a carnage that occurred almost 34 years ago during the Meerut riots of 1987. The three-month-long intermittent rioting in Meerut (May-July, 1987) resulted, according to government estimates, in the death of 174 persons and injuries to 171. According to the various studies and reports, it can be safely ascertained that the rioting in Meerut during April-May, 1987 actually left 250 dead and property worth of more than Rs. 10 crores destroyed – staggering figures, indeed.

The events that led to the horrendous Meerut riots in April-May-June, 1987 were as follows: On April 14, 1987 when the Nauchandi fair was in full bloom, communal violence broke out. It is said that a police sub-inspector, on duty, was struck by a firecracker and as he was drunk he opened fire, killing two Muslims. Another incident is also reported to have occurred on the same day. Muslims had arranged a religious sermon near the Hashimpura crossing close to the location of another function a Mundan in Purwa Shaikhlal of a Hindu family. Some Muslims objected to film songs being played on loudspeakers which led to a quarrel.

Somebody from the Hindu side allegedly fired. The Muslims than in return set some Hindus shops to fire. All in all 12 persons, both Hindus and Muslims, were reported to have been killed. Curfew was imposed and the situation was controlled. However, the tension prevailed and both sides were bent on causing further trouble. This started the three-month-long intermittent rioting in Meerut which resulted, according to government estimates, in the death of 174 people and injuries to 171. In fact, the loss was far more grievous. According to the various studies and reports it can be safely asserted that the rioting in Meerut during these three months actually left 350 dead and property worth crores destroyed.

On May 17, 1987, the incidents that led to the riots and then to the Hashimpura massacre and Maliana carnage took place in Kainchiyan Mohalla. By the next day, the riots had spread first to Hapur Road and Pilokheri and then to other areas. On May 19, a curfew was imposed throughout the city. To an estimated 60,000 strong local police, 11 companies of PAC were added. After the armed police established ‘law and order’, the character of the riots completely transformed.

In the initial phase, the riots were a confrontation between Hindus and Muslims, in which mobs attacked and killed each other. It is said that more Hindus appear to have been killed in this phase. But later on, after May 22, the riots ceased to be riots and became Police-PAC violence directed against Muslims. On that day PAC indulged in large-scale arson, looting, and burning in Hashimpura and proceeded the next day on the outskirts of the city in Maliana on May 23, 1987.

From May 19 to 23, the entire town of Meerut was under a curfew. On May 22, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) rounded up several hundred Muslim men in the Hashimpura area of Meerut. Though not clear, it seems that some decision was taken at the ‘top’ to spread terror in the Hashimpura area. Pursuant to this on May 22, Hashimpura was surrounded by the PAC and the Army. The PAC then forced all residents out of their houses to the main Road. Then a house to house search was conducted. All residents were lined up on the main road and about 50 of them were asked to board a PAC truck. Another group of 324 were arrested and taken by other police vehicles. Most of the arrested were taken to the police station or jail but around a hundred men were driven to the Upper Ganga Canal. Once at the canal, the PAC lined up the man, shot them one by one, and threw their bodies in the water. The floating bodies were discovered after a few days, and two survivors chronicled the massacre. The Times of India commented: “Here is a clear case of an organ of the state going out with cold-blooded calculation to raid and roundup a whole group of citizens, whisk them away, shoot them while in custody and then throw their bodies into the river.” The Hashimpura mass targeted killings is one of the most shameful chapters in the history of the Indian state depicting a callousness of unprecedented proportions. It was also an incident of mass custodial killing in the history of independent India.

What the police did in Hashimpura is something that can never be lived down and the shame of this will continue to haunt any civilised Government. The way the residents of Hashimpura were treated was shameful. Hundreds of people were taken out from the locality and asked to sit on the road. Army personnel segregated men over 50 years of age as well as those under 12 to one side of the road and dumped the rest into waiting trucks. Out of 42, only 6 persons were traceable, others seem to have vanished into thin air.

They were arrested together and taken in a truck to Muradnagar and when the truck reached the upper Ganga canal, they were shot by the PAC and their bodies thrown into the canal. More than 20 bodies were found floating in the canal. The second installment of the same incident took place after an hour or so at the Hindon river near the Delhi-U.P. border where the rest of the Muslim youth arrested from Hashimpura were killed at point-blank range and their bodies dumped in a similar manner.

The following day, the PAC arrived in the village of Maliana, under the pretext that Muslims from Meerut were hiding in the area. The PAC went on a Rampage, deliberately shooting unarmed men, women and children and burning some of the victims alive in their own houses. Eighty (80) bodies were found in the area believed to be those of victims of these killings.

An exact count of the number of dead as the result of the Meerut/Maliana massacre is still not known, although most experts agree that dozens of people were killed. According to official figures, from May 19 to 23, 117 people were killed, 159 persons injured, and 623 houses, 344 shops and 14 factories were looted, burned and destroyed. Another report notes that in the first three or four days of the riot, 51 Hindus were killed, and from May 21 to 25 at least 295 Muslims were killed, almost all by or under the active supervision of the police and the PAC. Violence, including bomb explosions and isolated incidents of killing and stabbing, continued until June 15. Those killed in the Meerut/Maliana massacre were Muslims. Their guilt or innocence of any kind was never an issue. Rather, the men who were killed at the upper Ganga Canal were picked up and arrested for one reason: They were Muslims. In Maliana, the killings were carried out in an entirely indiscriminate manner, with no regard for the gender or age of the victims. The Meerut/Maliana massacre was a genocidal massacre targeted against a particular ethno-religious group, clear and simple.

The initial response of the government to the massacres at Meerut and Maliana was one of denial, followed by attempts to cover up the crime. According to an official estimate, 42 Muslim youths were massacred in Hashimpura on May 22/23, 1987 and 72 Muslims were killed, by the 44th battalion of PAC led by Commandant R D Tripathi the next day on May 23/24, 1987.

After a prolonged court process of more than thirty years, Delhi high court pronounced its judgment in the Hashimpura massacre case on October 31, 2018. It overturned a trial court’s decision to acquit 16 policemen of charges of murder and other crimes in the 1987 Hashimpura case in which 42 people were killed. The high court convicted the 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) officials charged, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel reversed a trial court’s verdict which had acquitted the accused. The high court termed the massacre “targeted killing” of unarmed and defenceless people by the police. While sentencing all the convicts to life imprisonment, the court said the families of the victims had to wait 31 years to get justice and monetary relief cannot compensate for their loss.

Finally, though partial justice was done, the process has still left many questions unanswered:

What about the Maliana killings where 72 Muslims were killed by the 44th battalion of PAC led by Commandant R D Tripathi on May 23rd 1987? These incidents took place the day following the Hashimpura killings.

Attitude of the Central Government and agencies

The then central government headed by Rajiv Gandhi ordered a CBI inquiry in the abduction and shooting of people at the Ganga canal. CBI began its inquiry on June 28, 1987, and after a thorough inquiry submitted its report. However, the report was never made officially public. A Crime Branch-Central Investigation Department inquiry headed by Jangi Singh, DIG Police, Uttar Pradesh began its probe into the Muradnagar canal incident on June 4, 1987. Its report was submitted to the state government in October 1994 and it recommended prosecuting 37 PAC personnel and police officers. On June 1, 1995, the then Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government of UP gave permission to prosecute 19 out of 37 of those accused. Finally, it was in 1996 when a charge sheet was filed with the chief judicial magistrate of Ghaziabad under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code. It was Mayawati’s government which on 20 May 1997, gave the permission to prosecute the remaining 18 officials. Bailable warrants were issued 23 times followed by non-bailable warrants 17 times against these accused but none of them appeared before the court of law until 2000.

In the year 2000, 16 accused PAC men surrendered before the Ghaziabad court, got bail, and went back to resume their service. Disappointed with undue delay in the proceedings of the Ghaziabad court, kin of the victims and survivors filed a petition with Supreme Court praying to transfer the case to Delhi as the conditions in Delhi would be more conducive. The Supreme Court granted this prayer in 2002. Thereafter, the case was transferred to Tees Hazari court in Delhi. But the case couldn’t start before November 2004 because the Uttar Pradesh state government did not appoint a public prosecutor for the case.

Finally after a long legal battle the Additional Sessions Judge, at Tees Hazari Court, Delhi while delivering the judgment dated 21 March 2015, on the completion of trial of the accused, held that the evidence adduced by the prosecution was not sufficient to record the guilt for the offenses the accused persons had been charged with. It was further stated that it was painful to observe that several innocent persons had been traumatised and their lives had been taken by the State agency but the investigation agency, as well as the prosecution, had failed to bring on record the reliable material to establish the identity of culprits. The accused persons facing trial are entitled to benefit of doubt existing in the case of the prosecution. With these directions, the Court acquitted all the accused persons of the charges framed against them.

The UP government challenged the verdict of session court in Delhi High Court and finally the Delhi high court on October 31, 2018, overturned trial court’s decision to acquit 16 policemen of charges of murder and other crimes in the 1987 Hashimpura case in which 42 people were killed. The high court convicted the 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel charged, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel of the Delhi high court termed the massacre as “targeted killing of unarmed and defenseless people by the police”.

While sentencing all the convicts to life imprisonment, the court said the families of the victims had to wait 31 years to get justice and monetary relief cannot compensate for their loss. All the 16 convicts have retired from service by then. By this 2018 verdict from the Delhi high court judgment partial justice was delivered in the Hashimpura massacre case. Many questions were still left unanswered. What about Maliana where 72 Muslims were killed by the 44th battalion of PAC led by Commandant R D Tripathi on May 23, 1987?

An FIR on this massacre was lodged but unfortunately, there is no mention of the PAC personnel in the FIR. With a “shoddy” investigation by the State agency and a weak charge sheet by the prosecution, Maliana’s Muslims feel they will not get justice, just as the victims of Hashimpura got on 31st October 2018 by Delhi High Court.

The trial in this case has not even crossed the first stage. In the past 34 years, 800 dates have been fixed for the hearing, but only three of the 35 prosecution witnesses have been examined by the Meerut court. The last hearing was held almost four years ago. The case is pending before the Session court of Meerut.

The laxity of the prosecution can be gauged from the fact that the main FIR, the basis of the entire case against 95 rioters from the nearby villages, suddenly “disappeared” in 2010. The session’s court in Meerut refused to go ahead with the trial without a copy of the FIR and a “search” for the FIR is still on.

According to eyewitnesses “the PAC led by senior officers including the Commandant of the 44th battalion RD Tripathi entered Maliana about 2.30 pm on May 23, 1987 and killed more than 70 Muslims. The then Chief Minister Vir Bahadur Singh officially declared 10 people dead. The District Magistrate said 12 were killed in Maliana but later he accepted in the first week of June 1987, that 15 people were killed by Police and PAC. Several bodies were also found in a well.

On May 27, 1987, the then U.P. Chief Minister announced a judicial inquiry into Maliana killings. It was finally ordered on August 27, by Justice GL Srivastava, a retired, Judge of Allahabad High Court. On May 29, 1987, U.P. Government announced the suspension of the PAC Commandant RD Tripathi, who ordered the firing in Maliana. Interestingly allegations were also made against him during the 1982 Meerut riots. But the fact is RD Tripathi was never suspended and instead was awarded promotions in service till his retirement.

Custodial killings in jail

According to the various reports, more than 2500 people were arrested during the 1987 Meerut riots. Out of which 800 were arrested during the last fortnight of May (21-25) 1987. There were cases of custodial killings in jails as well. Reports and records of June 3, 1987 suggest that five arrested persons were killed in Meerut Jail while seven were killed in Fatehgarh jail, all of whom were Muslims. FIRs registered and case numbers of some of the custodial deaths in Meerut and Fategarh jails are still available.

The state government also ordered two other inquiries, into the incidents in Meerut prison and the Fatehgarh prison. A magisterial inquiry ordered into the incidents in Fatehgarh prison established that six people died as a result of injuries received, among other places, in the ‘scuffles that took place inside the jail’.

According to the reports, IG (Prison) UP, suspended four jail wardens two jail guards (Behari Lai and Kunj Behari), two convict warders (Girish Chandra and Daya Ram) were suspended. Departmental proceedings, which include transfer, were launched against the chief head warden (Balak Ram), a deputy jailor (Nagendranath Srivastav), and the deputy superintendent of the prison (Ram Singh). On the basis of this report, three murder cases relating to these six killings were launched in Kotwali police station Meerut. But the First Information Reports (FIRs) do not list any names despite certain officials being indicted by the inquiry. So no prosecution was launched in the last 34 years.

The aftermath

After the announcement by the Uttar Pradesh government for a judicial inquiry on the Maliana incidents, under the Commission of Enquiries Act, 1952 in the last week of May 1987, the Commission headed by Justice GL Srivastav, a retired judge of Allahabad High Court started its proceedings three months later, on August 27, 1987. The examination of witnesses from Maliana was hindered by the continued presence of the PAC in Maliana. Finally, in January 1988, the Commission ordered the government to remove the PAC. Altogether 84 public witnesses, 70 Muslims, and 14 Hindus were examined by the Commission, in addition to five official witnesses. But over time the apathy and indifference of the public and the media seem to have afflicted its proceedings. Finally, the Judicial Commission, headed by Justice GL Srivastava, submitted its report on 31 July 1989 but it was never made public.

Independently, the government also ordered an administrative inquiry over the riots that took place from May 18-22, 1987, but they exclude the events in Maliana and custodial killings in the Meerut & Fatehgarh jails. The panel, headed by Gian Prakash, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, consisted of Ghulam Ahmad, a retired IAS official and a former Vice-Chancellor of Avadh University, and Ram Krishan, IAS, Secretary PWD. The panel was asked to submit its report within thirty days, which it did. On the grounds that the inquiry was of an administrative nature, ordered for its own purposes, the government did not place its report before the legislature or public. However, The Telegraph, a daily from Calcutta, published the entire report in November 1987.

Now a public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Division Bench of Allahabad high court by this writer and former Director-General of Uttar Pradesh police, Vibhuti Narain Rai IPS, a victim Ismail, who lost his 11 family members at Maliana on May 23, 1987. The fourth petitioner is a lawyer M A Rashid, who conducted the case in a Meerut trial court; the petition seeks a fair and speedy trial by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) as also commensurate reparation/ compensation to the families of victims.

More than three decades on, the Maliana massacre case and other custodial killings in Meerut during the 1987 riots has not progressed much as key court papers have mysteriously gone missing. The petitioners have also accused the UP Police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel of intimidating victims and witnesses not to depose. After hearing this PIL, Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Yadav and Justice Prakash Padia of the Allahabad high court on April 19, 2021, directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file a counter-affidavit.

“Taking into consideration the grievance raised in the petition and the relief sought we call upon the State to file the counter affidavit and para-wise reply to the writ petition. List in week commencing May 24, 2021 in the additional cause list,” the Bench ruled. The matter will now be heard in the furst week of June.

The author is a senior tri-lingual (Hindi, Urdu, and English) journalist with more than 35 years of experience across all traditional media viz. TV, radio, print, and the Internet. This includes over 14 years with the BBC World Service, and tenures with reputed media organisations like Rajya Sabha TV, Doordarshan News, ETV News, UNI, Observer Group of Publications, Anand Bazar Patrika Group, etc.