New Delhi: The Delhi High Court will pronounce its verdict in the Hashimpura massacre case on Wednesday. Pleas had been filed challenging 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.
Reserving its verdict on the appeals filed by Uttar Pradesh state, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some private parties including a survivor of the massacre Zulfiqar Nasir, the high court on September 6 had also reserved its judgement on BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s plea seeking further probe to ascertain the alleged role of the then Minister of State for Home P Chidambaram in the case.
On account of lack of evidence, a trial court on March 21, 2015, had given the benefit of doubt and acquitted 16 former Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel accused of killing 42 people in Meerut.
On the direction of the Supreme Court, the case was transferred to Delhi in September 2002 following a petition by the families of the massacre victims and survivors.
Intervening in the matter NHRC sought further probe into the massacre in the Hashimpura locality of Meerut in UP.
After a trial court dismissed his plea for further probe to ascertain the role of Chidambaram, who was a Union Minister between 1986 and 1989, in the incident, Swamy had approached the high court with the appeal.