Advani to appear before court in Babri Masjid case

LUCKNOW: A CBI court on Thursday ordered all the accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, including senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh, to appear before the court in person at the next hearing in Lucknow on June 4.

“The court has ordered all the accused to appear before it in person on June 4 to record their statements. Due to the ongoing nationwide lockdown, none of the 32 accused could appear before the court today [Thursday],” said Manish Tripathi, the lawyer representing the accused in the case.

On May 8, the Supreme Court had fixed August 31 as the deadline for the CBI court to pronounce its judgment in the criminal conspiracy case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has presented all its 351 witnesses before the court in the case.

After demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, the Uttar Pradesh government had set up a special court in Rae Bareli in September 1993 in consultation with the Allahabad high court for the trial of cases related to demolition of the mosque.

In April 2017, the Supreme Court transferred the Rae Bareli case to the special CBI court in Lucknow.

The Supreme Court on July 19, 2019, extended by six months the time frame for completing the

trial in the case and set a ninemonth deadline for the final order. The deadline expired on April 19 and the special judge wrote to the apex court on May 6, seeking an extension. August 31 was then fixed as the deadline for the court to pronounce its order.