Draft:Maliana Massacre

The Maliana Massacre was a series of incidents during the 1987 Meerut communal violence in which members of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary provided covering fire for a Hindu mob that attacked and burnt down a large umber of Muslim residences. The event ended in the deaths of at least 68 and as many as 73 Muslim residents. Coming a day after the Hashimpura massacre in which the PAC was also the main accused, it was the deadliest single incident during the riots.

Background

Maliana is a collection of hamlets approximately 5km from the outskirts of Meerut and just 70km from Delhi. In 1987, the population consisted of approximately 35,000. of which 4,000 were Muslims. Although Meerut had seen five instances of communal violence in the two decades before the 1987 riots, the community was not seriously affected by these previous incidents.

In December 1982, serious communal violence broke out in Meerut, leading to around 150 deaths and the deployment of the PAC. In the aftermath of the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, communal tensions once again began to escalate through late 1986, exploding into violence in April 1987 in which 12 people were killed. In early May extra police forces that had been sent in were withdrawn and less than two weeks later, a bungled police raid in Hashimpura to arrest suspects in a land dispute in which a Hindu was killed erupted into the most serious riots Meerut had seen in decades. Within the first day, the Army, CRPF and PAC had been deployed and a curfew imposed. In the initial round of violence which lasted for another few days, PAC members were accused of aiding Hindu mobs in attacking Muslims at such locales as Hapur Road, the Mawana bus stand, the city stadium, Shastri Nagar, and Miyan Mohammed Nagar.

On May 22, days after the initial violence and a]one day before the events in Maliana, in what became known as the Hashimpura massacre, PAC officers randomly rounded up Muslims in the neighborhood where the fighting had broken out, drove them to two canals outside the city and shot dozens before disposing of the corpses in the canals. On the same day at Kishanpura, about a kilometer from Maliana, PAC and Hindu rioters killed three, and at Chandarlok four houses were burnt and all but one of a 13 member family were killed.

Massacre

The PAC contingent that arrived at Maliana on Saturday, May 23 had been deployed to search for arms and Muslim rioters from Meerut who were allegedly hiding with the local Muslim populace. Among them were senior officers, including the commandant of the 44th battalion, R.D. Tripathi. At 9 a.m the PAC, joined by local police cordoned off Maliana proper. Around the same time, some PAC men broke into a country liquor stall located at the crossing of Bagpat and Bhola roads in nearby Sanjay Colony and were joined by poor Hindu residents in looting the stall. Police began entering homes as part of a supposed search operation at around 11. Sometime between 1:30 and 2.45 p.m, the force was reorganized into three, one group taking up an overwatch position on top of a tall house adjacent to the local masjid in Maliana proper. Some of the PAC reportedly stated that they would "teach them (Muslims) a lesson".

Muhammad Yaqub Siddiqi, another survivor recounted that the group of policemen on the rooftop abruptly and indiscriminately opened fire on Muslim residents. The two remaining sections, joined by local police and a Hindu mob of 400-1000 people armed with swords, lathis, firearms and kerosene began to advance on the Muslim residences. According to Ahmed, the majority of deaths were due to the PAC sniper fire, as their position gave them an excellent view, many residents shot inside of their houses. Jugal Kishore, one of the accused claimed that Muslim residents returned fire at the PAC, but this has not been further collaborated Muslim residents did pelt stones at the police and the accompanying mob around the time of the initial exchange of fire, but were quickly scattered.

At Sanjay colony, the violence erupted at around the same time as in Maliana. At the start of the riot, an unidentified police or adminsitrative official in an Ambassador stopped near Islampur Chowraha and one of the occupants fired in the air. The rioters started fleeing in different directions

One of the largest losses of life was that of all 22 members of Momina Khatun's family, who hid inside a well with over a dozen of her relatives as those who remained above were killed by the rioters. After the initial group dispersed, Momina climbed out to see if it was safe for the rest to emerge, but another group of rioters discovered those still hiding inside and stoned them, before burning any still alive by pouring down and lighting kerosene. The children in the well recognized the men above and called out to them for mercy but were killed.

Some time between 5-6 p.m. survivors with their hands raised gathered at Islampur Chowk and demanded from administrative officials that the Army and CRPF be deployed. Within sight of the police and district officials present, the rioters set fire to a house whose occupants were still inside.

Aftermath

The firing, looting and killing extended from between two and three and a half hours before the PAC exhausted their stock of ammunition and took up a position in the neighborhood. 102 houses were burnt and over five dozen people (all Muslims) had been killed, 36 in Maliana proper. No FIR was filed until PM Rajiv Gandhi visited Maliana along with UP CM Vir Bahadur Singh. That evening, the PAC rounded up several Muslim youth including Siddiqi, who were tortured and made to sign blank FIRs the next morning. According to Siddiqi...

“Forget about the fellow residents of your locality. If I ask you the names of 93 members of your family, you can't answer. But as per police records, I lodged a complaint against 93 people, the names of their fathers and their roles in the bloodshed. Is it possible?”

Vibuthi Narain Rai, a retired police official, described these FIRs as "bogus" with many of the accused names being those of deceased persons taken from voter rolls. Other allegations claim that not only were false FIRs used to absolve police personnel, but to persecute local polticial activists. One of those named in Siddiqi's FIR was an acquaintance, advocate Kailash Bharti who was a a leader of the Dalit Mazdoor Kisan Party. Bharati was taken from home by two policemen, who said he was needed at a peace committee meeting. Instead, he was taken to an Army camp and informed that he was under arrest. After 10 days he was granted bail by a local court, but had NSA charges filed against him and was held for a further after three-and-a-half months. Bharati speculated in May 2023 that his arrest was connected to a protest against the Deoli massacre in which two others entered the Lok Sabha, threw pamphlets and raised slogans against the government.

Due to security measures taken by the Army, which replaced the PAC on Sunday, it took until that evening for news of the events to filter through, with Monday's papers reporting the official claim that seven people were "seven killed in police firing". According to a report three weeks later by India Today, anonymous Army officers claimed to have counted over 50 bodies when they had arrived in Maliana.

Many bodies of victims were either destroyed by fire, or dumped in a mass grave. Of the 36 deaths at Maliana, only 22 bodies were recovered. Nawabuddin, then in his 20s saw the charred bodies of his parents in the courtyard of his house, but when he returned to recover and bury them, their bodies, like those of the seven others killed at Sanjay colony, had disappeared. Nawabuddin alleged that police refused to file an FIR in his case, and that he was never called to testify during the later trial Many other bodies were buried in two mass graves in the backyard of Madrassa Tayyaba Taalim-ul-Koran in Maliana.

Narain Rai, then SP of Ghaziabad, was in the Meerut Police control room on the evening of the 23rd, having inspected some of his forces that had been dispatched to Meerut to help maintain order. According to his testimony, a PAC officer in the presence of several other senior police officials stated that "Today we taught the Muslims the kind of lesson their generations will dare not forget!" Hari Shankar Joshi, a local journalist who was one of the first civilians to reach the site of the massacre was informed by a PAC source that the massacre was not a drunken and spontaneous act carried out by low-level policemen, but that they were acting on orders from their commander who the source said had "lost his mind".

Investigations

Vir Bahadur Singh initial statement declared 10 people dead, this number raised to 12 the next day by the district magistrate. In early June, the bodies of Momina Khatun's family were discovered and the number was raised to 15.Eventually, 56 victims’ families were awarded compensation of Rs 20,000 later supplanted by a further Rs 20,000. On May 29, 1987, the UP government temporarily suspended PAC commander R.D. Tripathi, against whom allegations had been made during the 1982 riots. Tripathi was subsequently reinstated, promoted, and retired with full pension. The UP government inquiry into the Meerut riots, while including the PAC killings of Hashimpura residents, did not include the killings around Maliana, or those in the Meerut and Fatehgarh jails. The report was submitted within 30 days and leaked and published by the Kolkata based The Telegraph.

The central government declared on August 27, 1987 that Justice G.L. Srivastava, a retired judge of the Allahabad high court would head the judicial inquiry, but the investigation was not launched until January of the next year. Continued witness intimidation resulted in an order at the Commission's request for the removal of the PAC from the area. The commission interviewed 84 civilian witnesses (70 Muslims and 14 Hindus) five officials. Its report was submitted on July 31 the next year. It is yet to be released to the public. According to survivors, the Commission collected all photographs of the incidents from the victims along with their negatives.

Court Case

The legal case that resulted was characterized by significant delays and procedural concerns. The chargesheet was filed at the behest of survivor Yakub Ali, who filed a case against 93 people on May 24, but the court framed charges after 20 years in 2008. The investigating officers did not examine the witnesses and the accused. The police had mentioned 61 eyewitnesses, but few turned up to record their statements. Almost half of the witnesses and the accused died during the trial and many were not called to testify. At the time of trial only 14 of 35 living eyewitnesses testified, and may claimed that their testimonies were coerced.

Survivors finally received hearing dates and summons to testify in 2009, two decades after the massacre. When the court did initially take up the case, the original FIR that had been filed disappeared in 2010, leading to significant delays in the case. When the case eventually did proceed, the bogus FIRs produced under duress also presented issues, being used by the prosecution to avoid bringing charges against police officials. In contrast to the 2018 conviction of 16 former PAC personnel for their role in the killings at Hashimpura, personnel involvedat Maliana riot were not charged. The following statement was made to an Al Jazeera news crew by Additional District Government Counsel Sachin Mohan, one of the state's main prosecutors in the case.

"Why would I make the PAC an accused party in this case? When the FIR doesn't implicate the PAC how can I tell the court the PAC did it? The PAC was not involved in this riot, it was carried out by armed citizens. No police or PAC were there"

When asked about the validity of the FIRs and possible coercion, Mohan's response was as follows.

Mohan: "The FIR was lodged on the day of the incident. After the FIR the charge sheet was submitted. If they weren't satisfied with the charge sheet, why didn't they point out that the culprit was someone else? Have they ever stated that in writing to the court?"

Singh: "That was your job, right?"

Mohan: "Why is that my job?"

Singh: "You were representing them."

Mohan: "You are wrong. I was not representing them, I was representing the state. You have to understand that."

On April 19, 2021, journalist Qurban Ali and Vibhuti Narain Rai, who had subsequently been promoted to DGP before retiring, filed a PIL before the Allahabad High court on behalf of survivors protesting the inaction on the case and judicial issues with the trial. The PIL also and asked for either the release of the Srivastava Commission report or for the judges to request a sealed copy of the report.

On Saturday April 2, 2023, following over 800 hearings, Additional District and Sessions Judge Lakhwinder Sood on Saturday, acquitted the 40 accused citing lack of evidence. In August 2023, Mohan told the Times of India that an appeal against the judgement had been filed through the UP Advocate General, and further hearings were scheduled in the HC for October.