A Delhi court on Thursday issued non-bailable warrants against 12 retired police personnel of Uttar Pradesh after they failed to surrender before it to serve life imprisonment in the Hashimpura massacre case.
The Delhi High Court had last month awarded life sentence to 16 retired police personnel in the case and directed them to surrender before the lower court on or before November 22.
Additional Sessions Judge Smita Garg sent four of the convicts — Jaipal Singh, Mahesh Pratap Singh, Sami Ullal Khan and Niranjan Lal — to Tihar jail to serve the sentence after they surrendered before the court.
“Since the remaining 12 convicts have failed to surrender in compliance of the order dated October 31, passed by the High Court, let NBW [non-bailable warrant] be issued against them and notices to their respective sureties,” the court said.
The Delhi High Court had reversed the trial court’s verdict and sentenced the 16 former Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel to life imprisonment in the 1987 massacre case. They were convicted for murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code.
Acquitted earlier
The trial court had acquitted them on the grounds that the prosecution had not been able to make an unbreakable chain of circumstances in the case.
The 16 convicts had been found guilty of abducting and killing 42 people of a minority community during the Meerut riots in 1987. The victims were picked up from the Hashimpura Mohalla by the police personnel of 41st company of the PAC during a search operation.
Nineteen people were named as accused and charges were framed against 17 of them for offences of murder, attempt to murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy by the court here in 2006.
The case was transferred to Delhi on a Supreme Court direction in September 2002, following a petition by the families of the massacre victims and survivors. Of the 17 accused one died during the trial.
(With PTI inputs)