On Tuesday, the CBI court charged senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Union Minister Uma Bharti of criminal conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The incident occurred on December 9, 1992, and shook the nation. The accused will face a trial 25 years after the demolition of Masjid of the Mughal era by the Kar Sevaks.
The CBI judge S.K. Yadav, in the order, said there was “sufficient evidence on record to frame charges” against the accused of conspiracy and other charges.
The Other Accused:
The CBI court filed charges against another three leaders BJP Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Katiyar and VHP leaders Vishnu Hari Dalmia and Sadhvi Ritambhara. They were charged with Section 120 B which indicates criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code.
The former deputy PM L.K. Advani filed for a ‘discharge petition,’ which was then rejected by the court. In the previous proceedings, the judge, however, accepted the application to bail with a personal bond of Rs. 50,000 each. The CBI opposed this bail, but the court granted it to all the 12 accused.
One of the lawyers of the accused Vimal Srivastava, said about the discharge application “there was no material against them to constitute an offense under Section 120B.” This was rejected by the court.
The Previous charges:
Previously Sections 147, 149, 153 A, 153 B and 505 of the IPC were filed against Advani. These will also be still present alongside the additional criminal conspiracy charges. The older charges include rioting (147,) every member of unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of common object (149,) promoting enmity between different groups (153A,) imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration (153B) and statements conducing to public mischief (505.)
There have been dozen other cases including the six mentioned above registered against the other accused. The other accused include former BJP MP Ram Vilas Vedanti, VHP leader Champat Rai, Mahant Dharmdas and B.L. Sharma, Mahant Nrityagopal Das of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, Shiv Sena leader Satish Pradhan. Most of these belong to the Sangh Parivar.
The trio of leaders were summoned by the court on May 25. Obeying this order, they arrived at the court amid tight security. This is as the court had stressed they will not accept pleas seeking exemption from appearance or adjournment.
According to reports, Advani had not spoken in the court during the proceedings. In 25 years after demolition, this is the first time Advani and the top BJP leaders appeared before the court. The Supreme Court in April used its constitutional powers under Article 142 to restore the criminal conspiracy charges against the accused.
The SC overruled the Allahabad High Court’s decision of dropping charges against the ministers in 2001. The CBI ruled that the SC must conduct trials every day in this case and also said that the presence of the accused every day in the court is not mandatory. The accused have not yet decided whether to approach a higher court in this matter. These trials are expected to start on Wednesday after evidence are filed.
Statements of Few Accused:
Apart from the 12 accused, two other leaders accused were present in the court BJP MP from Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj, and Pawan Pandey. Sakshi, as he entered the court declared that “It was Punya. I did not commit any crime…No force can stop the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. There has been no decision since 1992. Many people died in course of the case. Justice should be done quickly. And the same hurry should be shown in the construction of a Ram Mandir.”
Uma Bharti, speaking about the charges said that she did not consider herself accused and that “It was an open movement like the one that happened against the Emergency.”
The apex court also transferred other cases from the Rae Bareli case in the demolition and clubbed it with the Lucknow case pending before a CBI Special Court.
