Meerut had been the site of five serious communal clashes over the prior two decades, the most significant being in December 1982, that saw the deployment of the PAC and its alleged involvement in the violence that resulted in a reported 150 dead.
[4] The tension started in 1986 when the black seal Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was opened by the Government which led the Muslim extremists to make some hateful speeches.
[5] It was reiterated by Hindus that Babri Masjid was constructed by Babur after the demolition of a Ram Mandir back in 1528 A.D.[6] Inflammatory speeches were made by Muslim extremist leaders, which created communal tensions in the area.
On the same day in Hashimpura a clash broke out when local Muslims objected to a Hindu family playing film music over loudspeakers during a sermon at the nearby masjid.
Entering the neighborhood at Iftar during Ramzan, the timing of the raid was seen as provocative and resulted in Muslim residents clashing with police nearby Imliyan mosque.
[9] In the subsequent communal fighting, on the morning of the 17th, at least 15 and likely many more people were killed and hundreds of business were burnt in the vicinities of Hapur Road, Golekuan, Pilokheri, Lakhipura, and Shyam Nagar.
On May 22, days after the initial violence, in the neighborhood of Hashimpura, PAC officials have been charged by court of filling buses with Muslims taken from their homes and killing 75 of them, dumping the corpses in two canals outside the city.
[14] In the aftermath of the events, Meerut Bar Association President Anil Bakshi, claimed "Innocent people were framed by the state administration to save the policemen guilty of the massacre.
On July 15, a bomb blast at Bazaza Bazaar killed three, resulting in mobs assembling within two hourns and clashing with police at half a dozen points across the city.