Victims' family celebrates Hashimpura massacre verdict, distributes sweets

Hashimpura (Uttar Pradesh) [India], Oct. 31 (ANI): As the 31-year long wait for justice in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre ended today, the family of the victims celebrated the verdict of the Delhi High Court by distributing sweets.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court sentenced 16 former Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel to life imprisonment in a case where 42 people of a minority community were killed by the police officials during a riot in Uttar Pradesh's Hashimpura district.
Meanwhile, hailing the Delhi High Court's verdict Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) spokesperson Shadab said that verdict restored the faith of the people in the judicial system of the country.
"A commission should be formed on behalf of the remark made by the Delhi High Court to remove such police officers from the system to ensure that such incidents are not repeated. They should have been hanged till death, but whatever punishment the court has awarded them we welcome it," he said.
The Delhi High Court overruled the three-year-old judgement of a trial court that had acquitted all the 16 officials, nearly two months after it reserved its decision on the appeals by the then Uttar Pradesh government, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and survivors of the massacre.
The trial court had acquitted the 16 giving them benefit of doubt. At that time, P Chidambaram was the Home Minister.
The High Court, while pronouncing the judgement, observed, "This was a targetted killing by the armed forces. Members of the minority community were killed and families had to wait 31 years for justice.". (ANI)