8 June 2001

ADVANI, JOSHI, UMA FREE FROM BABRI MOSQUE CHARGE

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and two other Union Ministers stand totally absolved from the Babri Mosque demolition case in what was decried by the Congress as "subversion of law" by the BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh by letting the deadline lapse on Friday without rectifying a lacuna that helped them escape from the trial before a Special Court set up in Lucknow.

The Special Court had dropped proceedings against Advani and 20 others on May 4 on the ground of a technical defect in the notification of 1993 by which the demolition case was transferred to it, wanting the state government to re-issue a new notification if it wanted to pursue the case against them. Beneficiaries of the state government's inaction include Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Sports Minister Sadhvi Uma Bharti.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi dashed off a missive to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday expressing anguish that the law was not being allowed to take its course by not removing the technical infirmities in the notification necessary to bring back Advani and others in the purview of the trial before the Special Judge.

"We have also been told that no action has been taken in this matter, either by the central government or UP government," Sonia Gandhi said in the letter released by party spokesman Anand Sharma at the daily AICC Press briefing. She pointed out that the CBI had written to the Union Ministry of Personnel that the Centre should advise the Uttar Pradesh Government to rectify the infirmities.

In a related development, Special CBI Judge Srikant Shukla decided in Lucknow on Friday to proceed against the remaining 26 accused by fixing June 22 for framing of the charges as the deadline had expired without rectification of the notification to try the others freed by him on technical ground.

The charges are supposed to be framed in the presence of all the accused and as such the Court had to fix it on June 22 since all were not present before it on Friday. Those not remaining present on the next date would be treated as jumping the bail, the judge ruled.

The Congress spokesman regretted that the Centre sat tight over the CBI recommendation to advise the U.P. Government to issue the new notification. They have chosen not to rectify the infirmities... They have done so to shield guilty party leaders," said Sharma.

Though the deadline for fresh notification has now expired, Sharma still hoped that "the Government would still show respect to the Constitution and process of law" as he said otherwise the ruling BJP was sending a wrong signal to the whole world that "it will resort to the brazen defiance of the law of the land when it comes to protect its own leaders."

Asked what the Congress can do when the BJP, which has never agreed to accept that what was demolished in 1992 was a mosque and not an old structure, the Congress spokesman said the party would examine "what legal steps can be taken to allow justice to take its natural course."  END