Journalism of Courage
On the night of May 22, 1987, about 45 Muslim men from Hashimpura, a settlement in Meerut, were rounded up and packed into the rear of a truck of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC). (Source: Praveen Jain)
Forty-two of those on board the truck that May night in 1987 were killed in two massacres in neighbouring Ghaziabad district. (Source: Praveen Jain)
One along the Upper Ganga canal near Muradnagar, a The other along the Hindon canal in Makanpur, on the border with Delhi — in what have since come to be known as the Hashimpura killings. (Source: Praveen Jain)
Indian Express photographer Praveen Jain, who was with The Sunday Mail then, was in Hashimpura that May. (Source: Praveen Jain)
The Army rounding up men in Hashimpura: Those were tense days, especially in Meerut. The Rajiv Gandhi government had ordered the locks on the Babri Masjid to be opened and riots and killings were reported from several parts of the district. (Source: Praveen Jain)
After a month of rioting, parts of the city smouldered with fires and fear. Hundreds of homes, factories, shops and vehicles were gutted.
In Meerut, the Army and paramilitary had been called in. A company of the 41st battalion of the PAC, which has its battalion headquarters in Ghaziabad, had also been sent to Meerut. (Source: Praveen Jain)
The Army had forced all the residents of Hashimpura out of their homes onto the road, and searched their homes. (Source: Praveen Jain)
It was the month of Ramzan and many spent their time outside their homes, cowering in fear. Over 500 men were arrested and taken away in police trucks. (Source: Praveen Jain)
That night, the PAC truck with the Hashimpura residents had first stopped along the Upper Ganga canal near Muradnagar and allegedly killed some of the villagers. They stopped only when a milk van drove that way. (Source: Praveen Jain)
Then, the jawans turned the truck towards Makanpur, along the Hindon canal, and went on another killing spree. Though the exact count of the dead was never established (because some of the bodies were flung into the canal and were never recovered) at least 42 are presumed to have been killed. (Source: Praveen Jain)
