Four out of 16 jawans (retired) of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (UPPAC) surrendered before Delhi's Tis Hazari Court on Thursday, 22 November, in connection with the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case, reported ANI. The four will be sent to Tihar Jail in the national capital.
The court has issued non-bailable warrants against the other convicts.
On 31 October, the Delhi High Court sentenced 16 retired UPPAC troopers to life imprisonment for killing 38 people in Meerut’s Hashimpura. The court had called it a “targeted massacre of unarmed and innocent people” from a community.
Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel reversed a 2005 judgment of the trial court, which had acquitted the 16 men on charges of murder and other crimes, and held them responsible for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and the disappearance of evidence.
The High Court had directed the convicts to surrender on or before 22 November. If they failed, then the concerned Station House Officer (SHO) had been ordered to take them into custody.
There were originally 19 accused, but three died during the prolonged trial. All the 16 from the PAC are now retired.
(With inputs from ANI and IANS.)
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