New Delhi, January 17: BJP leaders, including L K Advani, told the Supreme Court that the CBI’s pursuance of a case of criminal conspiracy against them in connection with the 1992 Babri Masjid case is an “abuse of process of law”.
The CBI had moved the SC against the dropping of proceedings against 21 persons, including Advani. In their reply, the BJP leaders submitted before a Bench, led by Justice H L Dattu, that a charge of criminal conspiracy had never been framed against them in either of the two FIRs or the consolidated chargesheet filed by the CBI in the case. A re-think by the investigative agency at this stage without giving any “reasonable explanation” ought to be dismissed, they said.
Two criminal cases were filed immediately after the December 6, 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid structure at Ayodhya.
The first (197/1992) was registered against “lakhs of kar sewaks and unknown persons” for serious offences, including robbery or dacoity with attempt to commit murder, causing hurt by an act endangering life or safety of others, deterring a public servant from doing duty, and promoting enmity between different religious groups. The most severe of these offences can get the offender up to 10 years in jail.
The second (crime 198/1992) was against eight individuals, including Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara for promoting enmity, making imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integrations and statements conducing to public mischief. Maximum punishment, if found guilty for these offences, is up to five years’ imprisonment.
The reply in the SC accuses the investigative agency of having tried to merge the two cases with a consolidated chargesheet. They submit how in 1993 their trial was shifted from Rae Bareli to a Special Court in Lucknow — a move which was later declared “illegal” by the Allahabad High Court in 2001 — which was hearing the kar sevaks’ case. “It is submitted that rightly the Special Court has no jurisdiction to try crime case no 198/1992 (against BJP leaders), and so the Special Court has rightly interpreted the said order (of the high court) and drop the proceedings against the persons charged under crime no 198/1992,” the reply said.
They questioned why the CBI had never included the charge of criminal conspiracy in its chargesheets. “CBI while filing supplementary chargesheet in 198/1992 has never added 120B (criminal conspiracy) IPC. The only reason for not doing so is either the CBI has no evidence for conspiracy or they are satisfied with the charges already framed,” the reply said, calling for the dismissal of the CBI petition.
But the CBI petition alleges that Lucknow court had dropped certain names from further proceedings on the ground that they did not participate in the “actual demolition”. “It appears that an artificial distinction was made by the trial court… that in respect of persons against whom only offences of instigation and other allied offences are made out, they should be relegated to case No 198/1992. However, in respect of persons who indulged in actual demolition, they should be tried out in case no 197/1992 along with offences relating to snatching of cameras and assault on media persons…,” the CBI had argued, calling for both cases to be tried together.
Slamming the decision to “bifurcate” the accused into two categories — which was later confirmed by the Allahabad HC — the CBI had said “acts of instigation, facilitation, the actual demolition of the Masjid, the continuous assault on media persons thus form a single connected transaction and can well be a concerted conspiracy under Section 120 B of the IPC”.
The hearing is scheduled for March 27.
–Agencies–