MEERUT: Four years after the infamous Maliana massacre which left nearly a hundred Muslims dead, neither has Justice Gursaran Lal Srivastava, the man asked to probe the killings, submitted his findings, nor is it known when he would.

And all the while, the goons who committed the crime have been roaming freely in the village, fuelling the fear and anger of Muslims, who had borne the outrage.

“So many of our young were killed We know the killers, we see them every day. Even the authorities know them. But nothing has been done and nothing will be,” says Mr.F.B.Siddique a resident of the village.

Siddique blames the previous governments in the State, “The Vir Bahadur Singh Govt did nothing to speed up the inquiry as it would have certainly indicted his govt. We expected at least the Mulayam Singh Govt to act. But our hopes were belied”,

It was on May 23,1987, that the small hamlet of Maliana, some 10 km west of Meerut city; witnessed its first and last encounter with communal madness, Many persons were killed in the village on that day. Muslims claimed 78 persons were missing, the then State home minister put the toll at Sand his counterpart at the Center declared it was only 10.

It was alleged that the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) aided and abetted the killers; In many cases they themselves stood accused as the killers.

The Maliana incidents had rocked the nation. The then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and the then chief minister, Mr V.B.Singh, made a token visit to the hamlet, Mr V.B.Singh blamed the Meerut MP, Ms Mohsina Kidwai, for the riots getting out of control. It was alleged that she pressurized local authorities to withdraw paramilitary forces following the April 87 riots in the city, which left the field clear for anti-social elements,

Finally in the last week of May 87, the State Govt set up the one man commission to enquire into the Maliana’ incidents. The commission’s terms of reference ‘ were to find out why these violent incidents took place; why use of force was necessitated to control the situation; and to fix responsibility and determine the extent of responsibility of different persons and the agencies for those events,

A separate judicial inquiry was ordered because it was alleged that the PAC was also responsible for the massacre. Besides the Srivastav Commission, an administrative panel, headed by Mr Gian Prakash, former comptroller and auditor general, was to inquire into the riots that took place in the city from May 18 to May 22 Maliana was excluded from its purview as outside city limits.

While the Gian Prakash panel was asked to submit its report within 30 days, the time-limit set for the Srivastav Commission was six months Srivastav commission’s proceedings, which began on Aug.27,87 dragged on .

The middle of ‘88 saw the proceedings getting bogged down. Examination of witnesses from Maliana was hampered by the continued presence of the PAC in the hamlet. So much so the commission had to order the State Govt in January ‘88 to remove the PAC from the place.

Progress was also hampered because of the frequent shifting of the venue of the hearings from a dingy room in the Meerut collectorate to Mossourie and back of depending on the time of year. In the first nine months of its existence, the panel examined 84 public witnesses 14 Hindus and 70 Muslims in addition to five official witnesses.

By then the 3-member Gian Prakash panel had already submitted its report, but the findings were never made public. The State Govt refused to table it in the Legislative Assembly.

Meanwhile, as the Srivastava Commission plodded on listlessly, the victims found themselves in dire straits. Many of the families had lost their bread-winners. Mehraz Ali, 22 whose father was one of those killed, today plies a cycle-rickshaw to support a family of eight, “I had to give up school,” he says.

Maliana has a population of around 36,000. OF these only 3.750 are Muslims. There were nearly 5,000 in 87’. After the massacre many left. The exodus continues, says 35-yr-old Nasiruddin.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 2, 1991