MEERUT: "My father was shot dead before me when I was just four-year-old," said Mahtab (40) on Monday, recalling the horror of Maliana killings in which 63 people, all Muslims, died 36 years ago.
A Meerut court on Saturday acquitted 40 people accused of arson, murder and rioting in the Maliana case for lack of evidence.
Located about eight km from the city, Maliana had witnessed riots on May 23, 1987, following clashes in Hashimpura on May 22 that year in the aftermath of the communal violence in the city during Shab-e-Barat on April 14 that left 12 dead.
Dissatisfied with the local court's order, members of aggrieved families are mulling to move the Allahabad High Court against the order.
Recalling the day, Mahtab said, "My father (Ashraf) was shot dead before me. I was a child at that time. He had nothing to do with the riots, but still he was killed. After consulting lawyers, "we will soon challenge the lower court's order in the high court", he said.
Afzal Saifi (45), who, too, lost his father, said that he will appeal in the high court.
"On the day of the incident, when his father (Yaseen) was returning home, rioters shot him dead and threw his body near a sugar mill," recalled Afzal.
Jayanta Roy Chowdhury, who was among the first journalists to reach the site, recalled the gruesome incident.
"Burnt out shells of houses and a handful of survivors sheltering in another charred hovel greeted us," he said.
"We were guided to a house with a well where bodies had been dumped. While walking through the house, we picked up a beam with the help of a CRPF inspector who had also arrived, and realised it was the charred remains of a baby girl," Chowdhury, now with PTI, said.
Intzar (58), a riot survivor, said the incident still haunts him.
"During the riots, his house was set ablaze," he said, adding that despite curfew intermittent clashes kept taking place for several days.
Recalling the morning of the dreadful day, 66-year-old Yaqoob Ali, a resident of Shekhan Chowk in Maliana claimed that at around 10 am, PAC personnel surrounded the entire area and started firing after entering each house of the area.
"Some people from other communities started looting, and also set some houses on fire," Ali said, asserting that he will consult lawyers and move the high court.
Meanwhile, UP's former irrigation minister Merajuddin, while speaking to PTI, demanded a CBI probe into the incident.
Merajuddin, who was then the chief of the Youth Congress of Meerut City unit, blamed some policemen and anti-social elements for the incident.
More than 800 dates were taken for hearing in the Maliana case.
There were 74 witnesses in the trial, out of which only 25 are left.
Some witnesses have also moved out of town.
The incident took place at Maliana Holi Chowk in Meerut on May 23, 1987, and Yakub Ali, a local, filed a case against 93 people on May 24 that year, Additional District Government Advocate Sachin Mohan had said after the Meerut court's order.
Mohan had said that in the Maliana case, 10 witnesses, including the plaintiff, testified in the court, but the prosecution was not successful in proving the case against the accused on the basis of sufficient evidence.
The court, after observing the testimony of the witnesses and the evidence on file, ordered the acquittal of 40 accused, giving them the benefit of doubt, Mohan said.
He said that 40 other accused in the case have died since the incident and the remaining could not be traced.