Skip to main content

Hashimpura - Vibhuti Narain Rai

The Indian state, even after seventy years of Independence has miserably failed in providing a secure and just society to its citizens.


Vibhuti Narain Rai's chilling recount of India's biggest custodial killing wherein forty two Muslims were butchered down by policemen because of their religion is a stark reminder of this fact. Even more so, the fact that the incident happened just next to the country's capital is a huge shame for our nation. When the media got the whiff of the incident, it did what it does the best. It was 1987 and the media as subservient to a particular political party as it is today. It brushed under the carpet a henious crime.


On the night of 22 May, 1987 near the Delhi Ghaziabad border, members of the powerful Provincial Armed Constabulary rounded up some forty plus Muslims, put them in a van and took them to a canal to shoot them and throw them in the running waters. Its thirty years almost to the incident and we have not provided justice to those families or even an answer to their mothers and fathers why thier sons were so blatantly killed. What were those compelling circumstances that the entire Indian system, including the media and the judiciary failed to bring perpetuators to book. Indeed, the matter has been allowed to die a slow death, akin to the genocide of 1984.

This book is a must read for the author was the S.P. of the area where this happened. He was also one of the first people to reach the crime scene. Being a policeman himself, even though he was not directly involved in the investigation, he saw it all, he had all the accesses and knowledge of what was happening. 

Hashimpura is a reminder of what all is wrong with our society and most of it is our mindset. 

Comments

Also read

Learning from Gardening

While composing status messages, just for fun, I simply jot down anything random that comes to my mind at the moment. Here is the latest FB message i posted few seconds ago. Tushar Mangl learns a lot from his gardening routine. Even when his plants die, he simply feels bad and then goes about to plan for new plants. Mostly because an empty space does not look that good. That is life for you. People will always go away from your life, at one point or another. But you cannot always leave the places vacan t. New plants have to be placed. Optimism has to exist for new flowers to bloom, new leaves to grow. Now, FB only gives me 422 characters to say my point. But my dear blogger, a companion of several years gives me much better platform to elaborate my thoughts. You see, in a flower bed I maintain near stairs of my house I had planted bougainvillea plants on either sides of the bed. As fate would have it, and given my nature of getting too attached to livi...

A suggestion to break the loop of guilt, isolation, and emotional burnout?

Caught in a guilt spiral, isolating quietly, and wondering why rest doesn’t heal you? You’re not lazy—you’re carrying layers of unprocessed emotion and spiritual exhaustion. This is your invitation to pause, reflect, and reset. Let’s explore why you still feel stuck despite good intentions, and discover rituals, reflections, and real reconnection to help you come home to yourself. First Published on 20/06/2008 14:30 Second edition Published on 04/07/2025 12:51 Why do you keep spiraling despite good intentions? Let me ask you this. Have you ever written out a self-care plan so perfectly, maybe in a brand-new notebook—drink more water, meditate, go to therapy—and yet by day three you’re numbly binge-scrolling, wondering what’s broken now ? Yeah. Same. We don’t spiral because we’re undisciplined or lazy. We spiral because the emotional weight we’re carrying goes deeper than we admit. It's not about a missed workout or failing to reply to that one text. It's the inner tug-of...

Cutting people off isn’t strength—It is a trauma response

Your ability to cut people off and self-isolate is not a skill you should be proud of—It is a trauma response Cutting people off and self-isolating may feel like a protective shield, but it is often rooted in unresolved or unhealed trauma and an inability to depend on others. While these behaviors seem like self-preservation, they end up reinforcing isolation and blocking meaningful connections. Confronting these patterns, seeking therapy, and nurturing supportive relationships can help break this unhealthy cycle. Plus, a simple act like planting a jasmine plant can symbolise the start of your journey towards emotional healing. Why do we cut people off and isolate? If you’re someone who prides themselves on “cutting people off” or keeping a tight circle, you might believe it’s a skill—a way to protect yourself from betrayal, hurt, or unnecessary drama. I get it. I’ve been there, too. But here’s the thing: this ability to isolate yourself is not as empowering as it may seem. In fact, i...