Excerpts of PUCL Report on Hashimpura (from PUCL Bulletin)
‘One
of the most shameful chapters of human callousness was enacted in
Hashimpura area. It would appear by then that sufficient contingents
of police and PAC had been inducted into Meerut. It was not clear but
it seems that some decision was taken to really spread terror in
Hashimpura area. Pursuant to this on May 22 Hashimpura was surrounded
by the PAC. The PAC then forced all residents out of their houses to
the main Road. Then a house to house search was conducted. The
residents complained that several houses were looted by the PAC.
All
residents of Hashimpura were lined up on the main road segregated, and
one person in Burkha identified 42 young men, who were asked to board
a police lorry. Another group of 324 were arrested and taken by other
police vehicles.
What
the police did in Hashimpura is something which can never be lived
down and the shame of this will continue to haunt any civilised
Government. We talked to old persons whose sons and grand-sons were
taken away by the police. We met young women whose husbands were taken
away and later on they were either missing or their dead bodies were
found. The way the residents of Hashimpura were treated was shameful.
We were told that hundreds of people were taken out from the locality
and asked to sit on the road. One army person asked people over 50
years and less than 10-12 years to get on one side and all the others
were dumped into waiting trucks. We were told by one Ahmed, who had
got away on the excuse that he had his MA examination that morning,
and that 3 of his colleagues, namely, Kamaludin S/o Jamaludin,
Sarajudin S/o Sabarudin, Nasim S/o Nasim Ahmed, had been taken away on
the trucks. These three had not come back thereafter and the father
Jamaludin corroborated this version.
Out of 42 only 6 persons are traceable, others have just disappeared.
There is no record of these persons with the police. Abdu Bhai the
grand father of Zulfikar told that Arif and Karimuddin were also with
his grandson. They were arrested together and taken in a truck to
Muradnagar and when the truck reached a canal Zulfikar saw Karimuddin
being shot by the PAC and thrown in the canal. More than 20 bodies
have in fact been found floating in the Ganga Canal.’
(Excerpts of the PUCL report on Hashimpura published in PUCL
Bulletin)