Hashimpura massacre: 4 witnesses record their statements

A Delhi court today recorded statements of four witnesses who narrated how 42 members of Muslim community were killed after being picked up by Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel from a village in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh in 1987.

A Delhi court on Monday recorded statements of four witnesses who narrated how 42 members of Muslim community were killed after being picked up by Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel from a village in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh in 1987.

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Additional Sessions Judge Manu Rai Sethi recorded the versions of Sirajuddin, Abdul Gaffar, Abdul Hamid and the then Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Law and Order G L Sharma in the on-going trial against 16 accused.

"We were asked to come out of our houses. We were made to sit on the main road and then aged and children were asked to take another side. Later, people were picked up and made to sit in the truck," Sirajuddin testified, adding he, however, managed to escape.

According to the prosecution, PAC personnel had come to village Hashimpura on May 22, 1987, and picked up about 50 Muslims as a congregation of 500 had gathered outside a mosque there.

The victims were shot at by the accused personnel and their bodies were thrown into a canal. 42 persons were declared to have perished in the massacre, it alleged.

In his cross examination, Sirajuddin, recording his versions as 65th prosecution witness, said the communal riots had taken place in the area around three and four days prior to the incident.

In the examination by Special Public Prosecutor S Akbar A Abdi, two other prosecution witnesses Abdul Gaffar and Abdul Hamid deposed that they were beaten up on the fateful day by the PAC personnel after being asked to come out of their homes.