The trial lasted for almost 28 years, and came with its share of twists and turns

The trial lasted for almost 28 years, and came with its share of twists and turns

The trial lasted for almost 28 years, and came with its share of twists and turns

BJP veterans L.K. Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh, all accused in the Babri mosque demolition case, were not present in the trial court at the time of delivery of verdict in the matter. The case relates to the razing of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. The Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992 by kar sevaks who claimed that the mosque in Ayodhya was built on the site of an ancient Ram temple. The Supreme Court had fixed September 30 as the deadline for the trial court to pronounce its judgement in the nearly three-decade old case. The 32 accused include former deputy prime minister Advani, former Union ministers Joshi and Uma Bharti, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, during whose tenure the structure was pulled down, besides Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Rithambara. 

The trial lasted for almost 28 years, and came with its share of twists and turns. On May 4, 2001, the court had dropped proceedings against 21 persons including Advani, Katiyar, Bharti, Ritambara, Joshi and Kalyan Singh, taking the view that there were two sets of accused, the kar sevaks who actually demolished the mosque, and others who instigated them. The reason: “The court thought that it was faced with two alternatives, and chose the lesser alternative of dropping the proceedings against these 21 persons so that the proceedings against the kar sevaks could carry on.”

This order was challenged in the High Court. On May 22, 2010, the High Court upheld the special court judgment. It agreed with the special court that criminal conspiracy was never made out against the eight accused.

It was against this order of May 2010 that the CBI approached the Supreme Court. Another seven years later, in 2017, a division bench of Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Rohinton Nariman has spoken, in effect asking Advani, Joshi, Bharti and others to face prosecution.