Indian Express
September 21, 2007
Waiting For Justice, Hashimpura PART-1
43 Muslims killed in custody: 20 yrs later, postcards of pain go to Maya
MOYNA
MEERUT, SEPTEMBER 20 : In an endless wait, even a postcard could mean hope.
That’s what the residents of Hashimpura are clinging on to.
As many as 48 people, all Muslims, were dragged out of their houses by UP’s Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and loaded into a truck for “questioning” on May 22, 1987. Only five of them returned to tell the tale of a carnage.
Numerous court hearings, petitions and 615 RTI applications later, the residents are now ready with 270 postcards, each signed by a family member of a victim, addressed to Chief Minister Mayawati. “These postcards are an attempt to make the government see our plight and assist us,” says Zulfikar Nasir, one of the five survivors.
During the communal violence that followed the reopening of Babri Masjid’s gates in 1987, over 400 people were picked up from this Muslim-dominated locality. All but 43 returned.
For two months, the families did not know what happened to those taken away. They ran from police station to police station. Most of the community believed they would return. “It was only when I saw the article in Chouthi Duniya in June that I started making the lists of the missing people and asking all those coming out of the jail if they had seen or heard of any of them’ Eventually, we realised our children had been murdered in cold blood,” says Jamaluddin, father of one of the victims.
Some bodies were discovered floating in the upper Ganga canal near Moradabad but the police said those were of riot victims. The story came out when Zulfikar Nasir, who escaped by feigning death, returned.
“Even 20 years later, our families have not got justice and that’s why today we are requesting the government to change the Special Public Prosecutor employed by them in our case,” says the postcard. Says Mohammad Usman, who was shot twice but survived by pretending to be dead, “The present lawyer does not even care enough to talk to any of us before or after the court proceedings and that is why we want him to be changed... The case needs an honest and committed lawyer if we are ever to see justice done.”
While Special Public Prosecutor Surendra Adlakha did not comment, Director General of the Crime Branch CID, Harmol Singh, said, “We are very serious about seeing a conclusion to this case and are trying present the case as best as possible.”
“Grief, hope and despair have taken turns to play with us and now we only wait for the guilty to be punished for killing our innocent children,” says Hajira who lost her 18-year-old son.
“In most cases, the earning member of the family was taken away, leaving helpless children and mothers or wives behind to fend for themselves,” says Zarina Begum. Zarina lost both her husband and eldest son. She has supported her remaining family by stitching clothes and working as a maid.
Sitting in the verandah of Nasir’s house with tears in her eyes, she says: “The deaths seem to have left a whole generation missing in our locality.”
Shakeel was only six-years old when the PAC jawans dragged his elder brother away from him. “The memory does not fade and is as clear as if it happened yesterday,” he says.
Pointing to a crack left by the rifles on the front door of his house, Shakeel, now 26, adds: “Even if we want to move on, we can’t... Memories are all around us.” He spends a considerable time every morning to comb his hair in a particular way to hide the deep rifle scars that occurred when he was shoved away from his brother.
Five houses away, in this U-shaped, two-laned mohalla, 34-year-old Riazuddin feels 1987 is still holding him back. While his brother who was taken away in the PAC truck never returned, Riazuddin was let off after a month. “I have been wanting to sell my property for a number of years but I get very poor offers because everyone feels “what if there is another riot, how will we ever escape with only two gates into or out of the locality on the main road,’” he says.
Despite all these years, the community hasn’t given up on each other. They have shared not just their grief but their resources including the compensation money, given earlier this year by the former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav,
as well.
And they have stood united and firm. Says Vrinda Grover, their lawyer: “Unlike the witnesses in other cases who are turning hostile or changing their testimony constantly, these people are intimately connected through common grief and loss.” The elders keep the bond intact. Says Jamaluddin, “We have controlled our children because violence begets nothing and we have faith in the justice system.”
Riazuddin says: “Till the older generation is around, we will not give up but after that it is hard to tell because the first priority for every person is to ensure food on his table.”
In the 20 long years, did the community ever feel like giving up the fight? “It has been long but there is always justice in the end and we are waiting for that. We want the culprits brought to book and nothing or no one can ever change our stand,” says Hajira whose son was murdered and husband beaten up badly. “Allah will ensure justice is done and till it is we will not give up hope.”
HOW THE CASE DRAGGED
• w May 1987
Communal violence in Meerut; CRPF, Army and Provincial Armed Constabulary brought in to control the situation.
May 22: Search and arrests all over Meerut, around 400 Muslims picked up. A week later, Zulfiqar Nasir, a survivor, speaks to the press.
1988
The UP Government orders an inquiry by the Crime Branch Central Investigation Department (CB CID).
• w February 1994
The CB CID submits report indicting 66 PAC men, report not made public.
• w February 1995
Family members of the victims file a writ petition before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court requesting the trial of all the 66 PAC men, compensation for the family members and the release of the CID report.
• w 1996-2000
Charge-sheet filed against 19 PAC men at the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ghaziabad; Six bailable and 17 non-bailable warrants issued against the 19 accused, but none of them appear before the Ghaziabad court. All 19 are in active service; 16 of the 19 accused surrender before the Ghaziabad court; Bail granted to all.
• w September, 2000
Following a petition filed by the families, the Supreme Court transfers the case to Delhi.
• w 2002 to 2004
Trial does not commence because the state fails to appoint a Special Public Prosecutor (SPP); The UP Government appoints and later withdraws an SPP as he lacks the professional qualifications; Surendra Adlakha appointed the new SPP
• w 2006
Charges framed against the accused for conspiracy to murder, attempt to murder, tampering with evidence at a sessions court in Delhi; SPP Adlakha fails to appear for the hearing, court imposes a fine of Rs 5,000; Testimonies of prosecution witnesses and survivors Zulfikar Nasir and Mohd Naeem recorded
• w 2007
The sessions court orders the hearing to be held on a day-to day basis from February 8. Testimony of third witness and survivor Mohd. Usman recorded, Fourth prosecution witness and survivor Mujibur Rehman begins his testimony in court; Case transferred twice to different Judges in the Sessions court in Delhi; Next date for hearing Rehman’s testimony fixed for November.
o o o
India Express
September 22, 2007
Waiting For Justice, Hashimpura PART-2
They lived to tell the tale of a massacre, if only someone hears
MOYNA
MEERUT, SEPTEMBER 21: Zulifkar Nasir cannot forget the darkest night in his life, the shouts, screams and gunshots.
The bullet scar on his upper left arm is a reminder.
Nasir says: “In the dark, I could not see anything and it was only from the sounds I was able to make out what was happening... I thought if I have to survive, I will have to pretend to be dead.”
That’s how he lived to tell the tale of the carnage_of 43 Muslim men who were picked up from Hashimpura on May 22, 1987 by UP’s Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC).
They were taken to a deserted spot near Murad Nagar, 40 km from Hashimpura, along the Upper Ganga Canal. The headlights of the truck were switched off.
They were dragged out, one by one. Then the shooting began.
Nasir escaped once the PAC truck returned. He hid in a public urinal, 3 km from the spot of the shooting. In the morning, he reached Ghaziabad where his uncle stayed and later told the media about the night of May 22.
Nasir was then 17. Today, he runs a small iron workshop with which he supports his wife and three children. “We are citizens of this country and should be treated thus... The government ought to give us the same treatment as the victims of the 1984 riots,” he says.
Nasir is one of the five witnesses, all survivors, in the case. All of them are poor but haven’t moved a bit from their stand at a time high-profile cases fall flat because of hostile witnesses.
Nasir points to the peepal tree, the spot in Hashimpura where they were lined up before being bundled into the truck. He has not got any compensation as he is not considered a victim but that has not affected his commitment to the case. “I want to see justice done because what happened on that day was inhumanely cruel, and the guilty have to be punished for leaving generations scarred,” he says.
Nasir and other survivors have worked hard to keep the community together in their fight for justice. Says Mohammad Naim, 39, another survivor: “In most cases, the earning member of the family was taken away, leaving behind helpless children and mothers to fend for themselves.”
Forty-seven-year-old Moh-mad Usman, who was shot twice, is now a fruit vendor. Even in his daily struggle to support his wife and six children, Hussain, with a leg crippled in the shoot-out, finds time for the case. He says he wants to do his bit to “help punish the guilty for their inhuman acts.”
In February, a nervous Usman told a Delhi court about the night of May 22. “We were sorted out on the basis of our strength and physique. While the elders and children were picked out and set free, the young were grouped together and put in the yellow PAC trucks,” he told the court.
According to Usman, after three boys were pulled out from the truck and shot point blank, the others in the truck started screaming. So the PAC jawans opened fire. He was the, “fourteenth or fifteenth person to be shot and thrown into the stream.” He remembered how the shooting continued for 30 to 35 minutes. “After that, the PAC people got into the truck and left,” he told the court.
Usman has a haunted look in his eyes every time he describes how he escaped by pretending to be dead. “Two or three others like me were alive with bullet wounds—and on our way to the main road, we were stopped by two policemen on a motorcycle.” Usman recalls how the police agreed to help him only on the condition that he was to “never mention that the PAC shot at us.”
He is still troubled about having giving in to the police pressure back in 1987. “If there is one thing I truly regret in my life, it is statement I made to the police 20 years ago absolving the PAC of their role in the killings.” But Usman believes that if he had not done so, he would not have survived.
Twenty years after the carnage, the court is hearing the testimony of the fourth survivor. Usman hopes he will see the end of the trial in his lifetime.
|
