The dark page in Indian history that will never fade out is the 1987 Hashimpura massacre, when 42 Muslims were mercilessly killed in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. On 7 December 2024, India's Supreme Court granted bail to eight ex-servicemen of the Provincial Armed Constabulary, who had been convicted in this gory crime.Background of the Case In May 1987, during Meerut communal riots, the PAC allegedly conducted a raid in the Hashimpura locality purportedly to search for rioting suspects. They reportedly arrested about 50 Muslim males and bundled them into a truck to take them to the outskirts of the city. The aftermath was gruesome: the arrested persons were shot and their bodies were thrown into the Hindon and Ganga canals. While some persons survived this brutal incident and subsequently testified, many lost their lives in this gruesome incident. It had perpetrated one of the most vile acts in history, but it was delivering justice at the speed of a snail. An FIR was registered and the legal process was clogged with systemic bottlenecks and lacked political will. In 2015, nearly three decades after the mass killing, a trial court in Delhi convicted 16 personnel of the PAC, holding them guilty of murder and sending them to life imprisonment. Eight of the convicts submitted petitions before the Allahabad high court that they were suffering from medical complications and were old. The court also pointed out that the convicts had already spent most of their sentence and, consistently followed legal procedures in the course of imprisonment and appeal. Coupled with that was the fact that they were suffering from deteriorating health. That is why the Court granted them temporary relief. Reactions to the Verdict The bail decision has drawn mixed responses. Some hail it as the pragmatic move to address humanitarian concerns. Others say it is watering down the gravity of the crime and the protracted struggle for justice put up by the families of victims. Some activists and legal experts raised their voices regarding the precedential implications of this bail decision on the state-led atrocities.