A tale of targeted violence in Hashimpura: the Delhi High Court on recognition, relations and responses | SpringerLink Advertisement Search Log in Search SpringerLink Search Article Published: 19 May 2020 A tale of targeted violence in Hashimpura: the Delhi High Court on recognition, relations and responses Vandita Khanna1  Jindal Global Law Review volume 11, pages61–76(2020)Cite this article 187 Accesses Metrics details Abstract On 31 October 2018, Justice Dr S Muralidhar (then) at the Delhi High Court convicted 16 members of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) for, inter alia, the murder of 38 Muslim residents of Hashimpura, a neighbourhood in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh in the summer of 1987. In so doing, he described the events that unfolded in Hashimpura as the ‘targeted killing’ of ‘members of a particular minority community.’ The judicial recognition of targeted violence in contemporary Indian society forms the focus of the present article. The article contends that Muralidhar J’s reference to targeted violence paves way for the recognition of an important juridical concept that warrants further academic and legal engagement. By adopting a relational approach, I argue that the conceptual utility of the category of targeted violence lies in its ability to unmask the social relations that it implicates. Targeted violence is not aimed at individual actors, but social relations between perpetrators, individual victims and those who share the victims’ minority identity. Committed to the legal recognition of social experiences, I demonstrate how the category of targeted violence accurately reflects the experiences of and relations between different social actors. I further build a case for why and how legal and judicial responses to targeted violence ought to be informed and shaped by a recognition of its relational harms. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution. Access options Buy single article Instant access to the full article PDF. US$ 39.95 Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout. Subscribe to journal Immediate online access to all issues from 2019. Subscription will auto renew annually. US$ 79 Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout. Rent this article via DeepDyve. Learn more about Institutional subscriptions Notes 1.Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others 2018 SCC Online Del 12153 [1.2]. See also Asghar Ali Engineer, ‘Meerut: The Nation’s Shame’ (1987) 22(25) Economic and Political Weekly 969; AG Noorani, ‘Amnesty Report on Meerut Killings’ (1987) 22(50) Economic and Political Weekly 2139; Asghar Ali Engineer, ‘Gian Prakash Committee Report on Meerut Riots’ (1988) 23(1) Economic and Political Weekly 30; K Balagopal, ‘Meerut 1987: Reflections on an Inquiry’ (1988) 23(16) Economic and Political Weekly 768. 2.Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others (n 1) [1.3]. 3.ibid [1.2]. 4.ibid [1.8]. 5.Ibid. 6.The Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011 attempted to introduce ‘targeted violence’ into our legal vocabulary. Section 3(c) of the Bill defined ‘communal and targeted violence’ as ‘any act or series of acts, whether spontaneous or planned, resulting in injury or harm to the person and or property, knowingly directed against any person by virtue of his or her membership of any group, which destroys the secular fabric of the nation’. However, the Bill was not passed by the Parliament. 7.For a critical account of the historiography of violence in India, see Gyanendra Pandey, ‘In Defense of the Fragment: Writing about Hindu-Muslim Riots in India Today’ (1992) 37 Representations 27. 8.Indian Penal Code, 1860, ss 146–148. For a critique of the judicial construction of the ‘communal riot’ see Pratiksha Baxi, ‘Adjudicating the Riot: Communal Violence, Crowds and Public Tranquility in India’ (2007) 3 Domains 70. 9.See M Mohsin Alam Bhat, ‘Mob, Murder, Motivation: The Emergence of Hate Crime Discourse in India (2020) 16(1) Socio-Legal Review (forthcoming) (on the emergence of the category of ‘hate crimes’ in comparison to concepts of ‘vigilantism’, ‘mob violence’, ‘communal violence’ and ‘lynching’). 10.In her written submissions in the case of Tushar Gandhi v Union of India and Ors., WP (Civ) No. 732 of 2017, Senior Advocate Indira Jaising referred to the lynching of Muslims and Dalits on the false suspicion of carrying cattle for slaughter or consumption of beef as ‘targeted violence’ (para 2). Notably, she defined ‘targeted violence’ as ‘violence with the motive of targeting a particular category of people based on race, sex, religion or caste’ (para 4). http://theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Written-submissions-by-Indira-Jaising-in-Lynching.pdf. Accessed 25 April 2020. 11.David Harvey, Social Justice and the City (University of Georgia Press, 2009) 13. 12.David Harvey, ‘Space as a Key Word’ in Noel Castree and Derek Gregory (eds) David Harvey: A Critical Reader (Wiley-Blackwell 2006). 13.Barbara Perry (ed), Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader (Routledge 2012) xv; see also Benjamin Bowling, ‘Racial Harassment and the Process of Victimisation’ (1993) 33(2) British Journal of Criminology 231, 238. 14.E.g. Barbara Perry, In the Name of Hate: Understanding Hate Crimes (Routledge, New York 2001); Nathan Hall et al (eds) The Routledge International Handbook on Hate Crime (Routledge, London and New York 2015). 15.OSCE ODIHR, Hate Crime Laws: A Practical Guide (9 March 2009). 16.Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others (n 1) [85–100]. 17.ibid [78–84]. 18.ibid [109–111]. 19.This section draws heavily from Vibhuti Narain Rai’s visceral account of the incident in VN Rai, Hashimpura 22 May: The forgotten story of India’s biggest custodial killing (Penguin 2016); see also Harsh Mander, ‘Hashimpura: 31 years after custodial massacre of Muslims by men in uniform, justice is incomplete’, Scroll (2 Nov 2018). https://scroll.in/article/900594/hashimpura-31-years-after-custodial-massacre-of-muslims-by-men-in-uniform-justice-is-incomplete. Accessed 10 April 2020. 20.ibid. 21.Rai (n 19) 22. 22.Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others (n 1) [28]. 23.ibid [29]. 24.ibid [30]. 25.ibid [32]. 26.ibid [42]. 27.ibid [50–52]. 28.ibid [72]. 29.ibid [102]. 30.ibid [104]. 31.ibid [1.1] (‘Around 36% of the population [of Meerut] are Muslims.’). 32.ibid (‘Many of them [Muslims in Meerut] earn meagre sums as artisans and labourers to keep themselves and their families going.’). 33.ibid [103]. 34.National Legal Services Authority v Union of India AIR 2014 SC 1863. 35.Navtej Singh Johar & Others v Union of India W. P. (Crl.) No. 76 of 2016. 36.Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others (n 1) [114]. 37.ibid [113–114]. 38.ibid [114]. 39.ibid [111]. 40.ibid [1.9]. 41.ibid [105]. 42.ibid. 43.Notably, the judiciary has previously issued comprehensive guidelines for structural reform in cases of sexual violence. See e.g. Vishaka and Others v State of Rajasthan AIR 1997 SC 3011. 44.Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others (n 1) [1.8, 101–102, 108]. 45.ibid [1.2]. 46.ibid [101]. 47.ibid. 48.The Preamble to the Indian Constitution assures, inter alia, ‘the dignity of the individual’. 49.Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others (n 1) [101]. 50.ibid [6, 8, 18, 54]. 51.Helen Ahn Lim, ‘Beyond the immediate victim: Understanding hate crimes as message crimes’, in Paul Iganski (ed) Hate Crimes: The Consequences of Hate Crime (Praeger, Westport 2009) 107–122; Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt, Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed (Plenum, New York 1993); see also ODIHR (n 15) 17. 52.Barbara Perry and Shahid Alvi, ‘“We are all vulnerable”: the in terrorem effects of hate crimes’ (2012) 18(1) International Review of Victimology 57, 65. 53.Iris M Young, ‘Five Faces of Oppression’ (1988) 19(4) Philosophical Forum 270; Elizabeth Stanko, ‘Reconceptualising the Policing of Hatred: Confessions and Worrying Dilemmas of a Consultant’ (2001) 12(3) Law and Critique 309. 54.Common Cause and Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Status of Policing in India Report 2019: Police Adequacy and Working Conditions (2019). https://www.csds.in/uploads/custom_files/1566973059_Status_of_Policing_in_India_Report_2019_by_Common_Cause_and_CSDS.pdf. Accessed 10th April 2020; Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others (n 1) [103]. 55.James Weinstein, ‘First Amendment challenges to hate crime legislation: Where’s the speech?’ (1992) 11(2) Criminal Justice Ethics 6. 56.E.g. Barbara Perry, ‘Exploring the community impacts of hate crime’, in Nathan Hall et al (eds) The Routledge International Handbook on Hate Crime (Routledge, London and New York 2015). 57.Monique Noelle, ‘The Ripple Effect of the Matthew Shepherd Murder: Impact on the Assumptive Worlds of Members of the Targeted Group’ (2002) 46(1) American Behavioural Scientist 27. 58.Perry and Alvi (n 52) 57. 59.Zulfikar Nasir & Others v State of Uttar Pradesh & Others (n 1) [103]. 60.Perry and Alvi (n 52) 67–68. 61.ibid 63. 62.Kenji Yoshino, Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights (Random House, New York 2006). 63.Perry (n 14) 10. 64.Iris M Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (Princeton University Press 1990); see also C Petrosino, ‘Connecting the Past to the Future: Hate Crime in America’, in Barbara Perry (ed), Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader (Routledge 2012) 10 (defining hate crimes within a power imbalance between racial and ethnic majorities and minorities). 65.Lu-in Wang, ‘Hate Crime and Everyday Discrimination: Influences of and on the Social Context’ (2002) 4(1) Rutgers Race & the Law Review 1. 66.Nancy Scheper-Hughes, ‘Small wars and invisible genocides’ (1996) 43(5) Social Science and Medicine 889. 67.Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India: A Report (2006). http://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/sites/default/files/sachar_comm.pdf. Accessed 25 April 2020; Zoya Hasan, ‘Muslims and the Politics of Discrimination in India’ in Zoya Hasan et al (eds), The Empire of Disgust: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Policy in India and the US (OUP 2018). 68.Jack McDevitt, Jack Levin, and Susan Bennett, ‘Hate Crime Offenders: An Expanded Typology’ (2002) 58(2) Journal of Social Studies 303; Paul Iganski, ‘Hate crimes hurt more’ (2001) 45(4) American Behavior Scientist 626. 69.Paul Iganski and Jack Levin, Hate Crime: A Global Perspective (Routledge, New York 2015); Paul Iganski and Abe Sweiry, ‘How ‘Hate’ Hurts Globally’, in Jennifer Schweppe and Mark Austin Walters (eds) The globalization of hate: internationalizing hate crime? (2016) 96. 70.Perry (n 14). 71.Constitution of India, 1950, art 21. 72.A spate of Indian judgments echo this. See e.g. Justice KS Puttaswamy (Retd) v Union of India (2017) 10 SCC 1 at [107, 157, 168] [Chandrachud J]. 73.e.g. See generally Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt, Hate Crimes Revisited: America’s War on Those who are Different (Westview Press 2002); Paul Iganski, Hate crime and the city (Bristol: The Policy Press 2008). 74.Hannah Mason-Bish, ‘Beyond the Silo: Rethinking hate crime and intersectionality’ in Nathan Hall et al (eds) The Routledge International Handbook on Hate Crime (Routledge, London and New York 2015). Author information Affiliations Research Fellow, Centre for Public Interest Law, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India Vandita Khanna Authors Vandita KhannaView author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Corresponding author Correspondence to Vandita Khanna. Additional information Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Rights and permissions Reprints and Permissions About this article Cite this article Khanna, V. A tale of targeted violence in Hashimpura: the Delhi High Court on recognition, relations and responses. Jindal Global Law Review 11, 61–76 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41020-020-00113-6 Download citation Published: 19 May 2020 Issue Date: April 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41020-020-00113-6 Keywords Targeted violence Minority Hashimpura Relational harm Hate crime Access options Buy single article Instant access to the full article PDF. US$ 39.95 Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout. Subscribe to journal Immediate online access to all issues from 2019. Subscription will auto renew annually. US$ 79 Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout. Rent this article via DeepDyve. Learn more about Institutional subscriptions Advertisement Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips Switch Edition Academic Edition Corporate Edition Home Impressum Legal information Privacy statement California Privacy Statement How we use cookies Manage cookies/Do not sell my data Accessibility Contact us Not logged in - 128.182.81.34 North East Research Libraries (8200828607) - LYRASIS (3000176756) - Carnegie Mellon University (3000133174) - Carnegie Mellon University Hunt Library (1600047252) Springer Nature © 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Part of Springer Nature. \