Hashimpura victims oppose Swamy`s plea

The victims and complainants in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case opposed the application of Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy seeking further investigation.

New Delhi: The victims and complainants in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case on Monday opposed the application of Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy seeking further investigation to ascertain the alleged role of Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the incident.

Rebecca John, counsel for the Hashimpura complainants, told Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Siddhartha who is conducting the trial in the case, that "there is no other motive than politics behind Swamy`s plea for further investigation and it would only further delay the trial". "The court should consider the effect of further investigation on the families of those who were killed in the massacre. They have been waiting for justice for 25 years. Re-investigation would derail the trial and stall the proceedings before the court," she said. Questioning Swamy`s locus to seek further investigation, John contended, "If we could see any other motive than politics, we would have stood behind him (Swamy). But we were the ones who fought for the victims, who went to the apex court and got the case transferred here. Where was he for 25 years?" Swamy countered the counsel`s arguments saying only after he sat on a fast unto death at the Boat Club in August 1987 that an inquiry was ordered. He had also raised the issue in Parliament, he added. Sixteen PAC personnel are facing trial for allegedly killing 42 persons in Hashimpura district of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. The Supreme Court had transferred the case to Delhi in September 2002 following a petition by families of the massacre victims and survivors. A sessions court here in July 2006 had framed charges of murder, attempt to murder, tampering with the evidence and conspiracy against all the accused. Three accused PAC personnel have died during trial. Claiming that the 16 PAC personnel facing trial merely executed the orders of a senior person, Swamy has been seeking a probe into the role of Chidambaram, who was the Minister of State for Internal Security from October 1986 to 1989 at the Centre. PTI