Ruling party faces setback in India's Babri Mosque case

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI, India (AA) - The Supreme Court has restored charges of criminal conspiracy against senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Babri Mosque demolition case, according to Indian media outlets.

The court on Wednesday allowed the appeal of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the dropping of charges against 12 senior BJP leaders, including former deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and current Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, and ruled that they will now stand trial in the case from 1992 that left thousands of people, mostly Muslims dead in communal riots.

However, Kalyan Singh will enjoy constitutional immunity as long as he serves as the Rajasthan state governor, the court ruled, according to the Times of India.

The court also called for day-to-day hearing of the case and ordered the trial should be concluded within two years.

Soon after the court verdict, Bharti in a press conference in the capital New Delhi rejected being part of any conspiracy.

“There is no question of it as everything was done openly,” she said, adding: “I am ready to be hanged. I want to give message that Ram temple should be built. I am going to Ayodhya today. Congress has no moral right to ask for my resignation," according to Times of India.

Law and Justice Minister Ravishankar Prasad, who is also a BJP member, said in New Delhi to reporters: “We will examine the judgement and take appropriate steps. Have not got full details right now. It’s not a setback for the party,” according to Times of India.

Meanwhile, the Babri Masjid (Mosque) Action Committee convenor Zafaryab Jilani, who is also a lawyer for the petitioner, told newsmen after the verdict: “We are happy with the Supreme Court order. Hope justice will now be done for the crime of demolition.

"Most of the witnesses have recorded their statement, now the trial will gain pace. We hope that the Yogi Adityanath government plays no obstacle in the trial and cooperates with CBI in ensuring that witnesses are produced on time. All BJP leaders found guilty in the case should be punished,” according to Times of India.

Opposition Congress Party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told Anadolu Agency: "The Supreme Court has spoken. Let law of the land take its own course without fear or favour. Let justice be done and guilty punished." The party had also demanded the resignation of the water resources minister.

The dispute over the site of the destroyed Babri Mosque in the ancient city of Ayodhya in northern Uttar Pradesh state is a decades-old issue between Hindus and Muslims of India, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people over the years.

In December 1992, Hindus gathered at the disputed site and destroyed the 16th-century mosque named after the Mughal dynasty Emperor, Babur. The destruction prompted nationwide communal riots that left around 2,000 people dead.

Since then, Muslims have been calling for a new mosque at the same place, while Hindus have been demanding a temple on the site, claiming their most revered god, Lord Ram, was born there.

The case over the dispute has been languishing in India’s legal system for years without any final outcome.

- Chronology of legal wrangling

The destroyed Babri Mosque is said to have been built by Babur in 1526.

The Mughals had ruled India from 16th century until the middle of the 18th century.

In 1885, a Hindu religious body filed a case in Faizabad court asking for permission to construct a temple to honor Ram inside the premises of the Babri Mosque.

However, the permission was denied on grounds that the petitioners had failed to substantiate their claim the mosque was built by Muslims after demolishing a Hindu temple.

In 1949, a group of Hindus entered the premises of the mosque and installed an idol of Ram there. The idol was not removed and it was locked by the administration. However, an official and a Hindu priest were given charge to look after the place.

The battle over the place of worship resurfaced again in 1985, when a group of Hindu zealots demanded the site to be handed over to them.

In 1986, the district administration of Faizabad under which Ayodhya city comes opened the premises to Hindus, allowing them to carry out their rituals.

The situation remained calm until December 1992, when thousands of activists belonging to extremist Hindu groups and political parties along with ruling BJP leaders Advani, Joshi and others entered Babri and demolished it.

The situation inflamed the sentiments of India’s minority Muslim community and culminated in one of the largest Hindu-Muslim riots in the country, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.

After the demolition of the mosque, two police reports -- First Information Reports -- were filed in two different northern cities, one in Lucknow and the other in Raebareli.

The Lucknow report concerned the actual demolition of the mosque, while the other named BJP leaders for their alleged hate speech delivered at the site in 1992.

The CBI took over both cases and filed a single chargesheet, alleging that BJP leaders were responsible for plotting the mosque's demolition.

Later, a local court quashed the conspiracy charges against BJP leaders over a technicality. The CBI, however, appealed the decision at the Allahabad High Court, which upheld the lower court's order, but allowed the agency to prosecute the accused under other charges in Raebareli.

The CBI then appealed the high court's ruling to the Supreme Court.

In September 2010, the Allahabad High Court ruled that two-thirds of the disputed site would be handed over to Hindu groups, while the remaining area would be given to Muslims.

The court, which had two Hindu judges in the three-member panel, also sided with the claim that the site was the birthplace of the Hindu god, Ram, and a mosque was built over a demolished temple, an act considered against Islamic tenets.

The Muslim judge in the same judicial panel had contested the claim and said that no such temple was destroyed to build the mosque.

Hindu and Muslim groups both then approached the Supreme Court after the ruling.

On March 23, the Supreme Court again adjourned the plea challenging a trial court’s order to drop charges of criminal conspiracy against senior BJP leaders for their involvement in the mosque demolition in 1992.

On April 6, the CBI urged the apex court to revive conspiracy charges against Advani and 12 other BJP members involved in the case.