New Delhi, April 19 (Agencies): Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi and minister Uma Bharti must face trial on charges of criminal conspiracy in the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
A bench of Justices P.C. Ghose and R.F. Nariman, allowing the plea of the Central Bureau of Investigation to restore the charges against them, also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and kar sevaks.
It said the trial will be held on a day-to-day basis and the proceedings are to be completed in two years.
”We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgment with certain directions,” the bench said.
Bharti, now the Union water resources minister, Advani and Joshi, are said to have made inflammatory speeches that incited the kar sevaks to tear down the 16th century Babri Masjid.
The apex court, however, noted that Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh enjoys Constitutional immunity and can be tried only after he ceases to hold the office. Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992.
A lawyer for Advani, K. K. Venugopal, declined to comment outside the court. Bharti denied the charges, telling reporters that there was no conspiracy and that it was her dream to see the temple built. Calls to Joshi's office went unanswered.
Te CBI’s charges against the BJP leaders date back more than a decade and were previously blocked by another court.
The court said separate trials being conducted in Rae Bareli and Lucknow would be clubbed and conducted in the capital of Uttar Pradesh only.
It also said that the trial judge of Lucknow “shall not be transferred” till conclusion and delivery of judgment in the case.
The court said that no party should be granted adjournment without the sessions judge being satisfied of the reasons for it.
It also directed the CBI to ensure that prosecution witnesses appear on each and every date for recording of evidence in the case and the trial court should start the proceedings within four weeks from on Wednesday.
It, however, made it clear that there would be no de novo (fresh) trial in the matter.
There were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992. The first involved unnamed 'karsevaks', the trial of which is taking place in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relate to the leaders, in a Rae Bareli court.
The CBI had charge-sheeted Advani and 20 others under sections 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (false statements, rumours etc circulated with the intent to cause mutiny or disturb public peace) of the IPC.
