LUCKNOW, June 18: Chief Minister Mayawati has turned down Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta's suggestion that the case related to the Hashimpura communal killings be transferred from a Ghaziabad court to Meerut.Replying to Gupta's query on the ``absence of follow-up action'' in the case, the Chief Minister said in a letter faxed to the Union Home Ministry, ``You will agree that the State Government has taken the necessary action to meet the ends of justice.''Taking care not to provoke the Centre's ire on any issue in view of the pressure being mounted by her bete-noire Mulayam Singh Yadav for dismissal of the Uttar Pradesh Government, Mayawati has politely rejected Gupta's suggestion.``The cases against 19 employees of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) are pending in the court of the Ghaziabad Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate. In view of the sensitivity of the case, we do not feel that it is desirable to transfer the case to Meerut,'' she said.On Gupta's other suggestion that a special court be created for the trials in the case, Mayawati has remarked that the State Government has made a formal request to the High Court.On May 21, 1987, some people of Hashimpura were reportedly killed by PAC personnel. The police recovered about 25 bodies from a nearby canal and the case was subsequently handed over to the Criminal Investigative Department (CID).In its report, the CID had recommended prosecution of 37 employees of the PAC and the police department. On June 1, 1995, the government gave permission for 19 of them to be prosecuted. According to the letter to the Home Minister, on May 20, Mayawati gave permission for prosecution of the remaining 18 officials.Political circles feel that the Home Ministry's move in raking up the Hashimpura killings at a time when the Defence Minister is launching a spirited campaign against the Mayawati Government is politically motivated.Speaking to newspersons here on Monday, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Behari Vajpayee also expressed surprise. ``Why is the Hashimpura issue being raised now when the incident occurred in 1987?'' he queried.In another development Mayawati, today urged President Shanker Dayal Sharma, to take action against Defence Minister and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav for having reportedly held a meeting with prisoners of Bareilly Jail recently.In the letter sent to the President, Mayawati said Mulayam Singh in violation of the prisons manual called for a meeting of prisoners in Bareilly Jail on June six where he also delivered ``inflammatory scpeches'' allegedly to instigate them. He told them not to apply for bail as either they would be released unconditionally or the state government would fall, the letter alleged, adding that the Chief Minister also called for disrupting rail and road traffic.The prisoners lodged in the jail were arrested in view of the tense situation in Babrala in Budaon district where employees of a fertilizer plant run by the Tatas were carrying on an agitation.
