 For Daily Job Alert |
Join Our Whats App Channel |
| For Free Study Material |
Join Our Telegram Channel |
Ending impunity: on Hashimpura massacre
Get Daily Vocab on your mobile Join Our Telegram Channel >> Click Here
Delhi HC retrieves a lost cause and convicts those behind the Hashimpura massacre
The conviction(दोषसिद्धि/दृढ़ विश्वास) of 16 personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) for the massacre of Muslims committed 31 years ago is a rare(दुर्लभ) instance(उदाहरण) of the justice system responding to the cry for accountability(जवाबदेही) and justice. By sentencing(सजा/कारावास ) the 16 men to imprisonment(क़ैद करना/बंदीकरण) for theremainder(शेष/बचा हुआ अंश) of their life, the Delhi High Court has signalled(संकेत) an end to the impunity(माफी/दण्ड से मुक्ति) they had seemingly(उचित रूप में/प्रतीत होता है) enjoyed all along due to systemic delays and perfunctory(निष्कर्ष/बेपरवाह) investigation. An hour after sunset on May 22, 1987, about 45 men from Hashimpura village near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh were abducted(अपावर्तित/अपहरण) in a PAC truck, most of them shot and their bodies thrown into two canals(नहरों).They were among more than 600 people rounded up by the security forces after the brother of an Army officer was killed in communal(सांप्रदायिक) violence(हिंसा) and two rifles were stolen(चोरी हो गए) by rioters(दंगाइयों/विद्रोही) from the PAC. The police later established(प्रमाणित/स्थापित) 38 deaths, but could not find the bodies of 22 of them. The U.P. Crime Branch-CID filed a charge sheet in 1996 against 19 PAC personnel, including(समेत/सहित) Surender Pal Singh, commander of the ‘C-Company’ of the 41st Battalion. The prosecution(अभियोजन ) case was backed by the testimony(गवाही/बयान) of five men who survived(जीवित रहना) being shot and thrown into waterbodies. In 2015, the trial court acquitted(अपराधमुक्त) all the 16 available accused(अभियुक्त/मुलजिम) (three, including the commander, had died by then), as it did not have evidence(सबूत/प्रमाण) on the identity of the truck or the PAC men travelling on it.
The en masse(सामूहिक रूप से) acquittal(रिहाई/दोषमुक्ति) was a travesty(झगड़ा/उपहासात्मक रचना) of justice. There was great concern(मामला/मतलब) that documents that could have helped nail the accused had been weeded out(बाहर कर दिया). It is to the credit of the Delhi High Court that it was not content(संतुष्टि/प्रकरण) with merely(केवल) examining the evidence produced before the trial court. Accepting a plea(याचिका ) by the National Human Rights Commission, it allowed additional(अतिरिक्त) evidence to be recorded by the trial court even as the appeal was pending. The C-Company’s registers, with records of the movement of PAC vehicles(वाहन) and the deployment(तैनाती/फैलाव) of personnel(कर्मियों), provided the evidence to pinpoint both the truck that had left the Police Lines, Meerut, and its occupants(निवासियों). These records were not available to the trial court. Apart from bringing home the culpability(आरोपी/दोषी) of the accused(अपराधीता,), the High Court concluded(निष्कर्ष निकाला) that these were custodial(संरक्षक/हिरासत में) deaths as well as targeted killings of people from a particular community. The Hashimpura massacre(नरसंहार/हत्याकाण्ड) case will be long remembered(याद ) both for the unconscionable(अनुचित/अत्यन्त) delay the judicial system has become habituated(आदी) to and for the manner in which a case almost lost has been retrieved(पुनः प्राप्त किया/भूल सुधारना) by the higher judiciary. It is also a reminder that there is a constant( नित्य/निरंतर) need for reassurance(आश्वासन/यक़ीन दिलाना) that policing and the criminal justice process in the country will remain fair, and free from all manner(तौर तरीका/तरीका) of prejudice.
Important Vocabulary
1.Conviction(दोषसिद्धि/दृढ़ विश्वास)
Synonyms: confidence, faith, feeling, principle, sentiment
Antonyms: distrust, doubt, disbelief, unbelief, overturning
2.Accountability(जवाबदेही)
Synonyms: liability, answerability, blameworthiness
3.Rare(दुर्लभ)
Synonyms: extraordinary, limited, occasional, scarce, singular
Antonyms: common, commonplace, familiar, frequent, normal
4.Imprisonment(क़ैद करना/बंदीकरण)
Synonyms: captivity, confinement, custody, incarceration, isolation,
Antonyms: freedom, liberation, liberty, discharge, liberating
5.Perfunctory(निष्कर्ष/बेपरवाह)
Synonyms: cursory, offhand, sketchy, superficial, apathetic
Antonyms: careful, complete, detailed, thorough, precise
6.Impunity(माफी/दण्ड से मुक्ति)
Synonyms: immunity, dispensation, exception, exemption, liberty
Antonyms: denial, prohibition, vet,, imprisonment, incarceration
7.Abducted(अपावर्तित/अपहरण)
Synonyms: appropriated, kidnapped, seized, snatched, stolen
8.Stolen(चोरी हो गए)
Synonyms: embezzled, filched, hijacked, lifted, misappropriated
9.Rioters(दंगाइयों/विद्रोही)
Synonyms: agitator, arsonist, criminal, demagogue, demonstrator
10.Established(प्रमाणित/स्थापित)
Synonyms: entrenched, settled, traditional, well-established, fixed
Antonyms: indefinite, undecided, unfixed, unstable, false
11.Prosecution(अभियोजन
Synonyms: pursuit, accomplishment, achievement, execution, performance
Antonyms: defeat, failure, neglect
12.Testimony(गवाही/बयान)
Synonyms: affidavit, data, demonstration, deposition, documentation, evidence
Antonyms: denial, opposition, veto
13.Acquitted(अपराधमुक्त)
Synonyms: absolve, clear, discharge, exonerate, free
Antonyms: accuse, blame, charge, condemn, convict
14.Travesty(झगड़ा/उपहासात्मक रचना)
Synonyms: burlesque, distortion, exaggeration, farce, mockery,
Antonyms: seriousness, solemnity
15.Deployment(तैनाती/फैलाव)
Synonyms: distribution, formation, stationing, categorization, classification
16.Occupants(निवासियों)
Synonyms: denizen, dweller, holder, incumbent, inhabitant
Antonyms: displaced person
17.Accused(अपराधीता,)
Synonyms: arraigned, implicated, incriminated, indicted, charged with
Antonyms: acquitted, clear, discharged
18.Culpability(आरोपी/दोषी
Synonyms: accountability, guilt, blameworthiness, culpableness, fault
19.Reassurance(आश्वासन/यक़ीन दिलाना)
Synonyms: boost, comfort, encouragement, reassurance, relief
Antonyms: discouragement, hindrance, hurt, injury, stop
20.Unconscionable(अनुचित/अत्यन्त)
Synonyms:barbarous, excessive, outrageous, preposterous, uncivilized
Antonyms: civilized, cultured, fair, good, honest
