Court Orders Advani’s Trial in Babri Mosque Demolition Case

NEW DELHI, 7 July 2005 — A court in northern India ordered yesterday that Bharatiya Janata Party chief and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani be tried for his alleged role in the 1992 demolition of the Babri Mosque that sparked deadly riots between Muslims and Hindus.

The Allahabad High Court said Advani, who is accused of encouraging thousands of Hindu fanatics to demolish the Babri mosque in the town of Ayodhya, and others must appear before a lower court on July 28.

The decision, which ironically came on the day Advani was leading nationwide protests against Tuesday’s attacks against the disputed shrine in Ayodhya, has overturned the order of a court in Rae Bareli.

Quashing the order of the lower Rae Bareli court, which had dropped all the charges against Advani in the demolition case, the high court directed the BJP chief to appear before it on July 28 for further directions.

With the Allahabad High Court yesterday setting aside the Rae Bareli court order discharging Advani in the mosque demolition case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to include the criminal conspiracy charge against him, sources here said.

One major reason that led to Advani’s discharge in the case by the Rae Bareli court in September 2003 was that the charge sheet did not contain Section 120 B, which relates to criminal conspiracy. “The CBI was wrong in filing such a charge sheet that did not include the criminal conspiracy charge when it was very clear that it was Advani who led the campaign of mass mobilization around the country leading to the events on Dec. 6,” said noted criminal lawyer R.K. Anand.

The CBI was at that time accused of “going soft” on Advani, then deputy prime minister and home minister in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government. The agency did not include speeches made by Advani at the time of the demolition of the mosque in Ayodhya Dec 6, 1992.

But with the yesterday’s order declaring that the special CBI trial court was wrong to discharge Advani, the decks have been cleared for including the fresh section.