Babri: SC hints at trial against Advani, others

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on the CBI’s petition seeking restoration of conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi, Uma Bharti, and 18 others in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

The apex court also reserved its order on the CBI’s request that their trial be transferred from a court in Rae Bareli to a special court in Lucknow.

Pointing out that the 25year pendency was an “evasion of justice,” the bench comprising Justices P.C. Ghose and R.F. Nariman said it would direct the Lucknow court to complete the trial in two years by ordering a day-to-day hearing, thereby indicating that it was inclined to allow joint trial and revival of the conspiracy charge.

Mr Advani and others could get jail terms of up to five years if the conspiracy charge is proved in the joint trial.

The CBI chargesheet had alleged that a secret meeting took place at the residence of Vinay Katiyar on

A person should not suffer litigation for 25 years. In your own interest, the trial must come to an end, and it is for your betterment...

— P.C. Ghose, SC judge

the eve of the demolition during which the final decision to raze the disputed structure was taken. The conspiracy hatched in 1990 by Mr Advani and others culminated in the demolition, the CBI said, and added that the conspiracy charge was dropped on technical grounds and should be revived.

There are two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. The first involves unnamed karsevaks, facing conspiracy and other serious criminal charges, the trial for which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relates to the VVIPs in a Rae Bareli court.

Haji Mahboob Ahmad, who filed a writ petition,