People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

Bring To Justice 

HOWEVER much the RSS/BJP may try to wash off the curse of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, its ghost continues to keep haunting them. No sooner did Advani assume the mantle of BJP presidentship, again, for the fifth time, did the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court issue notices to Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Bal Thackeray and other leading lights of the RSS-led communal combine in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition case. 

Readers will recollect that the BJP-led NDA government tried its best to manipulate the case and to even go to the extent of dropping the charges of criminal conspiracy against the accused. We had, at that very moment, said that the CBI, having in the first place, filed the chargesheet in the designated sessions court in 1997 cannot now rescind. A brief recollection of the facts will be useful.

On September 9, 1997, Jagdish Prasad Srivastava, Additional Session Judge (Ayodhya episode), Lucknow, passed an order framing the charges including that of criminal conspiracy against 49 accused, including all the leading lights of the RSS/BJP combine.

Para 3 of the order states: "CBI filed chargesheet against (40 people including L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Thakre, Ashok Singhal etc) under section 120-B IPC (criminal conspiracy) with 153-A/ 153-B/ 295/ 295-A and 505 IPC".

The order further says: "Central government has sanctioned the prosecution of Shri Bala Saheb Thakre to Shri D B Rai (accused 1 to 40) under section 196 of code of criminal procedure under section 153-A/ 153-B/ 295/ 295-A/ 505 IPC read with section 120 IPC and the UP state government has granted sanction for prosecution of Shri Kalyan Singh, R N Srivastava and D B Rai."

It is, therefore, clear that not only did the CBI file the chargesheet of criminal conspiracy in the designated court but the sanction of the central government and of the state government were obtained. It is on the basis of this chargesheet that the designated court concluded by stating: "From our description it is concluded that in the present case a criminal conspiracy to demolish the disputed structure of Ram Janam Bhoomi/Babri Masjid was hatched by the accused persons in the beginning of 1990 and was completed on 6.12.92. Shri Lal Krishan Advani and others hatched criminal conspiracies to demolish the disputed premises on different times at different places."

On this basis, the court charged the accused under the above mentioned sections, including criminal conspiracy and sent up the case for trial directing all accused to be present on October 17, 1997. This chargesheet when challenged in the high court on a purely technical ground of a lapse on the part of the state government was struck down. The high court, however, stated that this is a minor administrative lapse that can be corrected and sent back to the court for trial. The BJP's Rajnath Singh-led government, however, chose not to heed the court's advise and refused to make the necessary correction. Subsequently, the Mayawati government, which survived with the BJP's support, chose once again not to issue a fresh notification in this case for the trial to proceed. But instead, to please her then masters, the case was referred to a Rae Bareli court ab initio. The present Mulayam Singh Yadav government had then conveniently left the matter to the Supreme Court to decide!

Now that the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has issued notices and fixed December 16 for the final hearing, it is incumbent upon both the CBI and the Uttar Pradesh government to pursue the case in all sincerity upholding the original chargesheets filed by the CBI, which were subsequently endorsed by the special court.

The law must be allowed to take its course and assisted to bring to book the perpetrators who demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. This single act of demolition had brought the entire nation to shame and grievously assaulted the secular democratic character of the Indian Republic. Those responsible for such a grave insult and injury to the secular democratic character of modern India cannot be allowed to manipulate the system of delivery of justice and absolve themselves of the crime. All concerned must be both sincere and firm in the resolve to punish all those guilty of this heinous crime.