A special court in Lucknow will deliver a crucial verdict on the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case after almost three decades of investigation; BJP veterans L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, besides Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Rithambara are all among the accused. It is currently unclear how many of the 30 respondents will actually be present in court. NDTV reported that none of the four high-profile accused will be present in court, as Advani and Joshi were exempted from attending on health grounds and advanced age, and Uma Bharti has contracted the coronavirus and Kalyan Singh is recuperating from it.
Singh, during whose tenure as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh the disputed structure was demolished, was put on trial in September last year after his tenure as governor (of Rajasthan) came to an end. Champat Rai, the general secretary of the trust in charge of constructing the Ram temple, is also among those accused.
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. As THE WEEK had earlier reported, two first information reports were lodged. One was case number 197 of 1992 against lakhs of kar sevaks alleging the offences of dacoity, robbery, causing of hurt, injuring/defiling places of worship and promoting enmity. The second, case number 198 of 1992, was against Advani, Singhal (now dead), Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Ritambara, Joshi, Giriraj Kishore (now dead) and Vishnu Hari Dalmia for offences under sections 153-A, 153-B and 505 of the Indian Penal Code.
Short timeline of events:
December 1992: CBI lodges FIR and starts investigating the case.
October 1993: CBI files a chargesheet against 40, including Advani, in the demolition case. They follow it up with an additional chargesheet in 1996.
September 1997: Lucknow trial court orders charges against accused.
May 2001: Lucknow court ditches cases against Advani and 15 others. A month later, CBI moves the High Court against the trial court order.
April 2010: Allahabad High Court upholds May 2001 trial court decision to drop cases against Advani and others. CBI then files an SLP in Supreme Court.
April 2017: Supreme Court orders restoration of charges against the accused, including Advani, and directs day-to-day trial conduction, no transfer of judges, and addition of criminal conspiracy charges against the accused.
The central agency produced 351 witnesses and 600 documents as evidence before the court. Charges were framed against 48 people, but 17 have died during the course of trial. The charge of conspiracy is in addition to the existing charges against them for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion for which they are already facing trial. The accused are also facing charges of having made assertions "prejudicial to national integration and injuring or defiling a place of worship". The other charges against them include indulging in "deliberate and malicious" acts intended to outrage religious feelings, uttering statements leading to public mischief, rioting and unlawful assembly. The CBI argued that the accused conspired and instigated 'kar sevaks' to demolish the 16th century mosque. But the accused pleaded innocence maintaining that there is no evidence to prove their guilt and claimed they were implicated by the then Congress government at the Centre as a political vendetta.
