Supreme Court Denies Bail Request from Hashimpura Convict for Home Repairs
The Supreme Court recently rejected a bail plea from Basant Vallabh, a convict in the Hashimpura massacre case, who sought temporary release to repair his dilapidated house. A Bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Augustine George Masih questioned the validity of his reasoning, with Justice Oka stating, “What kind of ground is this?” Following this, Vallabh withdrew his plea.
The interim bail request was part of a pending criminal appeal against a 2018 judgment from the Delhi High Court, which convicted Vallabh and fifteen other former Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel, sentencing them to life imprisonment for their involvement in the 1987 massacre.
In May 1987, PAC personnel rounded up over 40 Muslim men and executed them in what has been described as a cold-blooded act. Only five men survived to tell their harrowing stories. An investigation launched by the Uttar Pradesh government in 1988 led to indictments against over 60 personnel by the Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department (CB CID).
The case, transferred to Delhi in 2002 at the request of victims’ families, saw a lengthy legal battle. In 2015, the trial court acquitted the accused after nearly three decades, but the Delhi High Court later overturned that decision, resulting in the current appeals pending before the Supreme Court.
(With inputs from agency)
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