Four of the 16 former policemen convicted in the Hashimpura massacre case surrendered in Delhi’s Tis Hazari court on Thursday, reports said. Last month, the Delhi High Court had sentenced to life the former Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel for killing 42 Muslim men in Hashimpura in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district in 1987, and had ordered them to surrender by November 22.
In May 1987, the policemen rounded up the men from their homes, shot them at close range, and threw their bodies in the Hindon canal.
The four policemen will be sent to Delhi’s Tihar jail. The court also issued non-bailable warrants against the remaining convicts.
On October 31, the High Court had overturned a trial court order acquitting all 16 of murder and other charges, and described the massacre as a “targeted killing” of unarmed and defenceless people by the police. The High Court also observed that monetary relief cannot compensate for the loss suffered by the victims’ families.
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