SC notice to Advani & Co in Babri Case

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has issued notices to senior BJP leader LK Advani, MM Joshi and others on a CBI plea seeking restoration of criminal conspiracy charges against them in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

A bench comprising Justice VS Sirpurkar and Justice TS Thakur also sought responses from Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and various BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders including Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Vinay Katiyar, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Sadhvi Rithambara and Mahant Avaidya Nath.

It also slapped notices to former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh.

The bench asked them to file their replies within four weeks.

Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium on behalf of CBI picked holes in the legality of the Allahabad High Courts order.

It had upheld the decision of the special CBI court which had quashed the charges of criminal conspiracy against Advani and others in the case. The agency had moved the apex court challenging the high court's May 20, 2010, order, dismissing CBI's plea for revival of criminal conspiracy charges against top BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders in the case.

CBI in its petition said: It appears an artificial distinction was made by the trial court attempting to assign a role in respect of each of the accused persons and to see which offences were made out. The trial court erroneously came to the conclusion that 21 persons were not entitled to be tried in the case (pertaining to the demolition on December 6, 1992)."

"The order passed by the High Court results in serious miscarriage of justice, violates the principle of consolidated investigation, consolidated charge sheet and also disables an effective trial," the petition said.

The high court in its order had said, there was no merit in CBI's revision petition challenging the May 4, 2001, order of the special court which directed dropping of criminal conspiracy charges against them.

There are two sets of cases - one against Advani and others who were on the dais at Ram Katha Kunj in Ayodhya in December, 1992, when the Babri Masjid was demolished, while the other case was against lakhs of unknown 'karsevaks' who were in and around the disputed structure. Upholding the 2001 order of the special CBI court, the High Court had said: "Nothing is found against the correctness, legality, propriety or regularity in respect of any of the findings of the lower court."

The CBI had chargesheeted Advani and 20 others under Sections 153A IPC (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).

The judge had also said that CBI at no point of time, either during the trial at Rai Bareli or in its revision petition, ever stated that there was offence of criminal conspiracy against the leaders, as was being submitted now.