It was on the night of May 22, 1987, that state-sponsored violence unfolded in Hashimpura, a settlement in Meerut, as approximately 45 Muslim men were forcibly loaded into a truck by the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC). Little did they know that this would be the last journey for most of them. Two massacres, known as the Hashimpura killings, took place that fateful night in neighboring Ghaziabad district, leaving at least 42 lives lost forever.
During those tumultuous days, Meerut was gripped by tension. The Rajiv Gandhi government’s decision to open the locks of the Babri Masjid had sparked a wave of anti-Muslim riots and violence across the district. The city of Meerut bore witness to rampant communal unrest, with homes, factories, shops, and vehicles set ablaze. As the situation deteriorated, the Army and paramilitary forces were deployed to restore order. The 41st battalion of the PAC, stationed in Ghaziabad, was also dispatched to Meerut.
“We were sorted out on the basis of our strength and physique, while elders and children were picked up and set free. The youth were grouped together and put in a yellow PAC truck. ”..”was pulled out of the truck, shot at twice and thrown into the Ganga stream,” said Mohamad Usman, prosecution witness and survivor in 2007.
In Hashimpura, a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, fear loomed large. The Army ordered the residents out of their homes, subjecting them to searches and interrogations. Around 500 men were arbitrarily arrested and hauled away in police trucks. That ill-fated night, the PAC truck carrying Hashimpura’s residents made its first stop along the Upper Ganga canal near Muradnagar, where some villagers were allegedly killed. The vehicle only halted when a milk van appeared, temporarily interrupting the unfolding violence.
The jawans then redirected the truck towards Makanpur, alongside the Hindon canal, where they mercilessly unleashed another wave of violence. The precise death toll remains uncertain, as some bodies were disposed of in the canal and never recovered. Nevertheless, it is estimated that at least 42 Muslims lost their lives in this harrowing episode.
“It was around 10.30 at night when I heard about the incident. At first, I could not believe it. It was not until I reached the Hindon canal in Makanpur village, along with the district magistrate and other officials, that I realised had become a witness to secular India’s most shameful and horrendous incident,” said Vibhuti Narain Ray who was the superintendent of police, Ghaziabad district during that time.
He said: “I was the superintendent of police, Ghaziabad district, and personnel from Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) had rounded up dozens of Muslims from riot-torn Meerut and had killed them in cold blood in my area of jurisdiction. One of the survivors of this horror was Babudin; he was the first survivor we found and he helped us put together the details of the incident. It was through him that we learnt about similar killings near another water canal that was just forty minutes away. This was the Gang canal that traversed through Muradnagar.”
He went on to say: “In each of these instances, Muslims have felt that the Indian state did not do enough to protect their rights. The state, instead, has always been more interested in taking up issues of lesser importance. The minimum expectation from the state in a civilised society is that it protects the life and property of its citizens, irrespective of their caste, class, sex, colour or religion. Unfortunately, despite having a strong and an all-encompassing Constitution, the Indian state has mostly failed on this count.”
“Hashimpura remains a disgraceful instance of the merciless and barbaric use of brute state force and a spineless, politically expedient government lying prostrate before its own men – the killers,” Rai wrote in his book, “Hashimpura, May 22.”
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