The Meerut court verdict and the Maliana massacre Premium

a brief about the Maliana massacre which happened in 1987 and the latest court verdict which acquitted all accused of the killings

The story so far: Almost 36 years after the Maliana massacre in which 72 people lost their lives in May 1987, the Meerut court of additional district judge Lakhvinder Singh Sood, after more than 800 hearings, set free all the 39 accused on grounds of insufficient evidence.

Hashimpura and Maliana were among the earliest known cases of communal violence in western Uttar Pradesh after the locks of the Babri Masjid were opened by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1986. The Meerut city had reported cases of Hindu-Muslim clashes in mid-May, 1987. Curfew had been imposed in the city when the Vir Bahadur Singh government sent 11 companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) to Meerut to control the riots. On May 22, the PAC landed in Hashimpura, rounded off Muslim men from the area, bundled them into waiting trucks and drove away. Some men were sent to jail in Meerut and others were taken to the Upper Ganga canal in Muradnagar at Ghaziabad and the Hindon river near the Delhi-U.P border, now part of the NCR. The men were allegedly shot dead by the PAC there.

Next day, the PAC reached Maliana and led by R.D. Tripathi, commandant of the 44th battalion, the men entered Maliana in the afternoon of May 23 and allegedly killed 72 people, all Muslims. Additionally, all the entry and exit points of Maliana had been sealed, making it impossible for the residents to flee.

Then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ordered an investigation into the massacre and later in May, Tripathi, who ordered firing in Maliana, was suspended. An FIR was filed in which 93 people were accused of the massacre. However, the FIR mentioned only civilians. Not one policeman was accused of violence. It was alleged by a local resident, Yaqub Ali, that he was forced to sign a document which he learned later was the FIR in which only civilians were named. Ali alleged he was mercilessly beaten up by the police before being compelled to sign the document. The names of the accused were apparently taken from the local voters’ list. It included even those who had deceased by then. A judicial inquiry was ordered under retired High Court judge, Justice G. L. Srivastava in August, 1987. The presence of the PAC hindered fair investigation, forcing the inquiry commission to remove the Constabulary. After examining 84 public witnesses, the Commission submitted its report in July 1989. The report was not made public.

The victims saw no ray of hope for more than 30 years. Finally, a public interest litigation was filed by senior journalist Qurban Ali and Vibhuti Narain Rai, former director-general police, U.P before the Allahabad High Court in 2021. The co-petitioners were Ismail, a man who had lost 11 family members in the Maliana massacre, and M.A. Rashid. The petitioners drew the court’s attention to the fact that not much progress had been made in giving justice to the massacre victims as key papers, including the FIR had gone missing. They accused the State police and PAC personnel of trying to intimidate the victims and eye witnesses. They sought a special investigation team to look into the violence of May, 1987. The court ordered the UP Government to file a counter affidavit. The case is still being heard.

The Meerut court verdict has been called a travesty of justice as no one was held guilty for the killing of 72 people. Alauddin Siddiqui, the lawyer representing the victims, expressed disappointment with the verdict stating that, “it is an abrupt decision at a time when the proceedings were still on and hearing on the 34 post-mortem reports had not taken place.”He plans to approach the High Court for relief.