CBI court to record statements of Babri mosque demolition accused, including LK Advani and MM Joshi from 4 June

The special CBI court hearing the Babri mosque demolition case is set to record the statements of the accused, who include BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, from 4 June onwards. Special judge SK Yadav on Thursday asked the defence to start producing the 32 accused from that date. [caption id=“attachment_3481357” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Babri Masjid demolition. AFP[/caption] It is not immediately clear if they have to be present in court or can appear through a video conference due to restrictions imposed to fight the spread of coronavirus. The court will record their statements under section 313 of the CrPC, giving them a chance to claim innocence. This stage of the trial is also meant to explain to the accused the evidence gathered against them by the prosecuting agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation. The Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992 by “karsevaks” who claimed that the mosque in Ayodhya was built on the site of an ancient Ram temple. The prosecution had wrapped up the examination of its witnesses by 6 March and the court asked some of the accused to appear before it on 24 March for recording their statements under section 313 of the CrPC. But the proceedings did not take place as the court in Lucknow closed due to the coronavirus crisis. When the proceedings resumed on 18 May, the defence counsel moved an application to summon three prosecution witnesses in order to cross examine them. This was allowed. The accused include former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, former deputy prime minister LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Rithambara, Sakshi Maharaj and Ram Vilas Vedanti. On 19 April, 2017, the Supreme Court had ordered the special judge to conduct a day-to-day trial, concluding it in two years. Calling the demolition of the disputed structure a crime which shook the “secular fabric of the Constitution”, it allowed the CBI plea on restoration of criminal conspiracy charge against the VIP accused. The court had termed the Allahabad High Court’s 12 February, 2001 verdict dropping conspiracy charge against Advani and others as “erroneous”. On 8 May this year, the top court set a new deadline for the special judge, asking him to deliver the verdict by 31 August. Before the 2017 verdict of the apex court, there were two sets of cases relating to the demolition, going on in Lucknow and Raebareli. The first case involving unnamed “karsevaks” proceeded in a Lucknow court and the second set of cases relating to eight VIPs was being heard in a Raebareli. The cases were then clubbed. Last year, another bench of the Supreme settled the land dispute over the site where the mosque stood. The SC allowed the construction of a Ram temple at the site and ordered the allocation of a separate plot in Ayodhya for building a mosque.