Indian party figures charged over mosque destruction

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) Three senior figures from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were charged Tuesday over their alleged roles in the 1992 destruction of the 16th century Babri mosque, local media said.

The incident triggered religious riots in which nearly 2,000 people died.

A special court in the northern city of Lucknow charged 12 members of the BJP, including former BJP chief Lal Krishna Advani, veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi and federal minister Uma Bharti, with criminal conspiracy, the Times of India reported.

The Mughal-era mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, was torn down in December 1992 by Hindu nationalists who claimed it stood on the site of the birthplace of a revered Hindu deity and a millennium-old Hindu temple.

All the defendants, who were granted bail, denied making inflammatory speeches that prompted the mob to attack the mosque.

An application to discharge the conspiracy case was rejected by the court.

Conspiracy charges were dropped in 2001, leaving them facing lesser charges but successive appeals by the Central Bureau of Investigation, India’s highest court, led to them being reinstated.

The dozen BJP leaders were originally named in a 1992 document accusing them instigating the attack on the mosque, which was named after a Mughal emperor.

Since the destruction of the mosque, Muslims have called for a new mosque to be constructed at the site while Hindus demanded a temple at the place of Lord Ram’s birth.