The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to two more convicts in a case related to the killing of 42 people belonging to a minority community in Hashimpura region of Uttar Pradesh in 1987.
The Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih noted that the convicts, including an 82-year-old, were entitled to bail on the grounds that they had already undergone an incarceration of over six years.
On December 6, the Apex Court had granted bail to 10 convicts in the same case on the grounds that they had been in jail since 2018 after the Delhi High Court reversed their acquittal in 2018.
In 2018, the High Court had convicted 16 persons, all former members of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), in the case.
On May 22, 1987, members of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) allegedly rounded up 42 men belonging to the minority community from Hashimpura in Meerut district, put them in a lorry, drove them to a nearby canal, shot them and then dumped their bodies in the canal.
In March 2015, a trial court in Delhi acquitted 16 PAC personnel on grounds of insufficient evidence.
On October 31, 2018, the Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel set aside the trial court’s judgement and convicted the accused.
Their appeals against the same are pending before the Supreme Court.
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