Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy today sought a court permission to move an application seeking to include a person as co-accused in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case in which 16 PAC personnel are facing trial for allegedly killing 42 persons in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.
He moved the court of Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Siddhartha, who allowed him to submit the application under section 319 (power to proceed against other persons appearing to be guilty of offence) of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Though Swamy did not name anyone in the court, outside the court he said he wanted P Chidambaram, who was the Minister of State for Internal Security from October 1986 to 1989 at the Centre, be made an accused in the case.
Earlier, Subramanian Swamy told the court that the 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel who are facing the trial may not have acted on their own free will and that they merely executed the orders of a senior person. “I want to move an application to make that person, who gave the orders to the force, an accused,” Swamy told the court.
The judge remarked that it was obvious that all forces act on the orders of the superiors. The court, however, added that there was no other accused named in the case and asked Subramanian Swamy if he has the evidence to prove his point. Swamy said he would prove his case and the judge allowed him to move the application, saying “you move the application. I would consider it.”
