Babri Demolition Case : Anti-Socials Climbed On The Dome; They Can't Be Called Ram-Bhakts, Says Court [Read Judgment]

A Special CBI Court at Lucknow on Wednesday (30th September) acquitted all 32 persons accused of hatching the criminal conspiracy behind the demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque on December 6, 1992.The acquitted persons include prominent BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Kalyan Singh etc.Special CBI Judge S K Yadav, in his 2300-page verdict written in Hindi, held that the demolition of the mosque was not premeditated and that there was no criminal conspiracy behind it.The Court said that the demolition was not pre-planned."Those who climbed on the dome, they are anti-social elements", the Court stated.The Court further observed that such a group of people could be called anarchist and they could certainly not be called Ram-Bhakhts (Devotees of Lord Rama) as they were bent on to demolish the disputed structure and that the Supreme Court had made the aforesaid observation ("…The destruction of the mosque and the obliteration of the Islamic structure was an egregious violation of the rule of law") in the context of these people only.CBI's CaseTo prove the case against the accused persons, the Central Bureau of Investigation produced several eye-witnesses as well as newspapers/magazines, their cuttings, Video cassettes/ tapes and photographers, search memo/production memo and medical evidence.CBI argued before the Court that the Apex Court in the Case of M Siddiq (D) Thr Lrs vs Mahant Suresh Das & Ors has held that,On 6 December 1992, the structure of the mosque was brought down and the mosque was destroyed. The destruction of the mosque took place in breach of the order of status quo and an assurance is given to this Court. The destruction of the mosque and the obliteration of the Islamic structure was an egregious violation of the rule of law.The Special Court acknowledged the fact that the Apex Court had indeed said so; however, the Court was of the view that the jurisdiction of the CBI special Court was limited, and that the Court was on the question of - whether the CBI has been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt as per the evidence available on record or not?Charges of Criminal ConspiracyThe Court after perusing the pieces of evidence (Oral Evidence of Witnesses, Newspaper Cuttings, Magazines, Videocassettes, Printed speeches obtained from tape recorders, Photographs and the evidence of people present at the site in question) produced by the CBI, expressed its final view that there was never any event/occasion wherein the accused persons sat together and planned to demolish the mosque in question (Babri Masjid).It may be noted that the CBI had produced several news items published in Newspapers and Magazines related to the Public meetings, Press conferences and Jan-sabhas attended/addressed by the accused persons between 01-10-1990 and May, 1993, to prove that they had indeed hatched a Criminal Conspiracy to demolish the Mosque in question.In response to this, the Court noted that the news items published in Newspapers and Magazines, come under the purview of hearsay evidence and therefore, such a piece of evidence cannot be relied upon by the Court independently unless supported by other robust pieces of evidence.The Court specifically noted that news items are edited by the editors (of Newspapers and Magazines) and as such, the statements of the accused persons published in such newspapers and magazines cannot be held to be confessional statements of the accused persons.In the same manner, the court discarded the videotapes, cassettes produced by the CBI.In relation to the photographs produced before the court, the Court was of the view that the negatives of such photographs were not produced before the Court and such pictures didn't contain the signatures of the people who took those photographs.Coming to the reliability factor of the witnesses (who were present at the site in the question at the relevant point of time) in this specific case, the Court observed that such people (Government service holders/common people), when produced for examination by the CBI in the Court, their statements recorded before the Court and their Statements recorded under Section 161 of CrPC, were quite contrary to each other and thus, they were unreliable.The Court was also of the view that none of the witnesses took the name of the accused persons explicitly that they were in fact, involved in grounding the mosque. Also, the Court observed that on that fateful day (06th December 1992), lakhs of karsewaks were present and heavy dust was blowing (indicating that it was not possible to give a clear account as to what happened on that day).The Court opined that it is a fact that the disputed structure was at least 200-300 meters away from Ram Katha Kunj, however, some witnesses even said that the said distance was 800 meters. In such circumstances, the Court opined, it could not be concluded with utmost accuracy that the accused persons or few of them would have signalled the Karsewaks...

Babri Demolition Case : Anti-Socials Climbed On The Dome; They Can't Be Called Ram-Bhakts, Says Court [Read Judgment]

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Babri Demolition Case : Anti-Socials Climbed On The Dome; They Can't Be Called Ram-Bhakts, Says Court [Read Judgment]

Sparsh Upadhyay

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