Babri, a tale of two high-profile FIRs | Economic Times

Almost 28 years after Ayodhya's Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, a special court in Lucknow will decide the fate of some of the biggest names of Sangh Parivar, accused of criminal conspiracy and 'incitement' which led to the razing of the 16th century structure. Besides, unknown kar sevaks are facing the trial for actually demolishing the structure.The trial can be divided into four segments, based on the pace and complications in proceedings and governments at Centre and in state..DECEMBER 1992-OCTOBER 1993: RUN UP TO THE TRIALCongress government at the Centre sacks Kalyan Singh-led government in UP and imposes President’s rule on December 6, 1992 that lasts till December 4, 1993 DECEMBER 6, 1992 | On the day of demolition of Babri Mosque, two cases — crime number 197/1992 and crime number 198/1992 registered through two different FIRs lodged at Ram Janmabhoomi police station, Ayodhya. During investigation, 47 more FIRs were lodged.I) CASE NUMBER 197/1992 | On December 6, 1992, the first FIR was lodged by station house officer, RJB Police Station, PN Shukla at 5.15pm against lakhs of unknown Kar Sevaks under IPC sections 395 (dacoity), 397(dacoity or robbery with attempt to cause death), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servants), 337, 338 (grievous hurt), 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult religion of any class), 297 (trespass in any place of worship) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion). The time of occurrence in this report shown around 12noon to 12.15pm. The case was registered under Crime No. 198 of 1992.II) CASE NUMBER 198/1992 | On the same day, the second FIR was lodged by in charge, RJB police outpost, Ganga Prasad Tiwari at same police station at 5.25pm, saying that at about 10am while he was on duty near Kar Seva organized by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, he found that Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Ritambhara were sitting on the dais at Ram Katha Kunj and were instigating the Kar Sevaks through speeches. As a consequence of that, several Kar Sevaks got infuriated and demolished the disputed structure. This case was registered under Crime No. 198 of 1992. Those named were accused of inflammatory speeches, spreading communal hatred, promoting enmity, making imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration and statements conducing to public mischief.III) As many as 47 more FIRs lodged on the complaints of mediapersons who were assaulted and their cameras, etc, snatched on charges of robbery, rioting and mischief, etc.DECEMBER 10, 1992 | The cases 197/1992 and 198/1992 handed over to the CB-CID by UP government. On the basis of case number 198, Advani and other leaders were arrested two days after demolition, on December 8, following imposition of President’s Rule in UP.DECEMBER 13, 1992 | The 197/1992 case handed over to the CBI while the 198/1992 case remained with the CBCID.DECEMBER 16, 1992 | UP state government, in consultation with the Allahabad high court sets up a special court of judicial magistrate at Lalitpur district for trial of all the cases including 197/1992 and 198/1992. The decision is taken because it was perceived too risky to lodge the political leaders in Ayodhya or Lucknow, hence police kept them at a guest house in Lalitpur.FEBRUARY 27, 1993 | CB-CID files chargesheet in Lalitpur court in 198/1992 case under sections 153-A, 153-B, 505, 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (membership of unlawful assembly, guilty of offence committed in prosecution of commonobject). On March 1, special magistrate takes cognizance of chargesheet.JULY 8, 1993 | In consultation with the high court, UP government through a notification modified the December 12, 1992 notification and changed the place of sitting of the special court of judicial magistrate from Lalitpur to Rae Bareli. Allcases including 197/1992 and 198/1992 were shifted to Rae Bareli. This was done because traveling to Lalitpur was time consuming and posed various problem.AUGUST 26, 1993 | The 198/1992 case and 47 cases related to assault on the media also handed over to CBI by the Centre on state government’s request so that they can be probed and tried together with the 197/1992.SEPTEMBER 8, 1993 | UP government, then under President’s rule, in consultation with HC, issued a notification to create a special CBI court in Lucknow headed by additional chief judicial magistrate (Ayodhya Matters) with jurisdiction in the entire UP.SEPTEMBER 9, 1993 | The 197/1992 case along with 47 other cases referred to the Lucknow special court. However, the 198/192 case that named big leaders not included in the transfer and its trial continued in Rae Bareli.SEPTEMBER 9, 1993 | CBI seeks permission from Rae Bareli trial court to reinvestigate 198/1992. Permission was granted by court on September 10, 1993. SEPTEMBER 17, 1993 | CBI requested state government to transfer 198/1992 case to Lucknow special court so that both the related cases can be tried together in the interest of justice.OCTOBER 5, 1993 | CBI clubs all the 49 cases including 197/1992 and 198/1997 and files a composite chargesheet in the Lucknow special court saying that all the cases were part of the same transaction. The chargesheet named 40 persons, mostly senior politicians and included 8 named in the 198/1992 FIR. This is where conspiracy charge was levelled against Advani and other high profile accused. (It might be mentioned that CBI did not submit the chargesheet at Rae Bareli court where trial of 198/1992 was onOCTOBER 1993-JULY 2005 : A ‘technical’ defect in a notification for allocation of cases by UP government during President’s Rule leads to a maze of litigations and counter litigations. During this period, the Centre witnessed change of guard 5 times with governments formed by NDA, United Front and UPA. In UP, the seat of power saw musical chairs between SP, BSP and BJP with President’s Rule being imposed twice in the duration.OCTOBER 8, 1993 | UP government amends the notification dated September 9, 1993, inserting the case 198/1992, so that all 49 cases can be tried together by Lucknow special court. However, it was done without consulting the HC.OCTOBER 11, 1993 | Lucknow special court takes cognizance of offences based on consolidated chargesheet filed by CBI.OCTOBER 18, 1993 | As CBI had asked for reinvestigation of the 198/1992 case from the Rae Bareli court earlier, the latter sought a report from the agency regarding progress of the investigation.DECEMBER 6, 1993 | CBI informs Rae Bareli court that it has filed a consolidated chargesheet at Lucknow courtJANUARY 24, 1994 | The magistrate at Rae Bareli directs transfer of the records to Lucknow. A day later, records were brought to Lucknow. Objections against the move by some accused were rejected by the court on March 23, 1994.AUGUST 27, 1994 | After hearing all the accused and parties, Lucknow special court committed the case for trial.NOVEMBER 11, 1994 | Lucknow special court permits CBI to carry on probe.JANUARY 11, 1996 | Supplementary chargesheet filed by CBI adding 9 more names as accused in Lucknow CBI court.SEPTEMBER 9, 1997 | Lucknow special court orders that there is a prima facie case against all 49 accused for framing charges of criminal conspiracy. It charged the accused with IPC sections 147, 153-A, 153-B, 295, 295-A and 505. The court held that all the offences were committed in the course of the same transaction which warranted a joint trial. The order was immediately challenged by 33 accused including Advani at HC.FEBRUARY 12, 2001 | After hearing the petition of 33 accused, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC ruled that UP government had not consulted the HC on its decision to transfer the 198/1992 case from Rae Bareli to Lucknow, hence the merger of 197/1992 with 198/1992 was invalid and the Lucknow special court cannot try the accused in 198/1992 case. The court, however, said the technical flaw is curable and it is open to the state government, if it so desires, to rectify the matter by issuing a fresh notification after consultation with the HC. Court also upheld conspiracy charge against the top leaders and composite chargesheet while emphasising that all offences were committed in the course of the same transaction and to accomplish a criminal conspiracyMAY 4, 2001 | While interpreting the February 12, 2001, HC order, the Lucknow special court ordered proceedings to be dropped against 21 accused including LK Advani, Bal Thackeray, MM Joshi, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Mahant Avaidyanath and Kalyan Singh in the crime number 198/1992 on the ground that it was examining the case regarding the actual demolition and not the hatching of any conspiracy. It took the view that there were two sets of accused—one, the Kar Sevaks who demolished the mosque, and others who were the instigators. The court, however, decided to carry on trial against 27 other accused who were named in 197/1992 and 47 other cases. Later, on September 19, 2001, CBI filed a revision petition against this order in Allahabad HC.MAY 25, 2001 | On the ground that the state government had not taken steps to directs CBI to file a progress report on investigations carried out by the agency.MARCH 30, 2003 | CBI files another supplementary report at Rae Bareli court against the eight accused, including Advani, in Rae Bareli court without conspiracy charge. Agency did not include names of 13 other accused in this report.SEPTEMBER 19, 2003 | The Rae Bareli court discharges Advani in demolition case saying CBI has not provided enough material, but directs trial against the other seven accused to continue.SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 | Citing Advani’s discharge by the Rae Bareli court, other seven top leaders who were co-accused got the criminal proceedings stayed from Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC. Some private parties also filed revision petitions against the discharge order in HC.JULY 5, 2005 | Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC set aside Rae Bareli court order discharging Advani of all the charges and held that prima facie the charges of inflammatory speeches against all the eight accused including Advani were maintainable. The case was revived but without the conspiracy charge.JULY 2005-FEBRUARY 2011 : Trial begins amid complications and proceeds at snail’s pace. The Centre was ruled by Congressled UPA. State witnessed SP and BSPgovernments.JULY 28, 2005 | All the eight accused appeared before the Rae Bareli court and were given bail. Charges were also read out to the accused and all pleaded not guilty. Thereafter, the trial beganMARCH 26, 2010 | IPS officer Anju Gupta who was Advani’s personal security officer at the time of the demolition testifies before Rae Bareli court that Advani made a fiery speech that electrified the Kar Sevaks. She is the only serving IPS officer to have deposed before court and happens to be one of the witnesses named in the chargesheet filed by CBI in 1993. She also said that on December 5, 1992, then IG Faizabad zone AK Sharma convened a security review meeting where, based on intelligence inputs, he warned of a likely assault on the Babri mosque the following day.MAY 20, 2010 | After 10 years of earing, Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC dismissed CBI’s revision petition against removal of “conspiracy charges” against LK Advani and other big leaders by the Lucknow special court on May 4, 2001. HC upheld Lucknow court’s order and said that there were two classes of accused, namely, leaders who were on the close-by dais exhorting the kar sevaks and the kar sevaks themselves. The nature of accusations against both was different and their involvement was for different criminal offences. There was no conspiracy charge in case 198, which related to incitement to demolition through speeches, and which was already being tried at Rae Bareli consequent to the HC order of February 2001.AUGUST 17, 2010 | Lucknow special court summons 27 accused in 197/1992 case. Proceedings against three who had died in due course were abated, while charges were read out to the rest 24 who pleaded not guilty and the trial beganFEBRUARY 2011- SEPTEMBER 30, 2020: Complications resolved paving way for rapid trial. Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA governments at the centre, while BSP, SP FEBRUARY 19, 2011 | CBI approaches the Supreme Court against Allahabad HC (May 20, 2010) and Lucknow special CBI court (May 4, 2001) orders. Supreme Court pulls up CBI for filing appeal nearly nine months after the HC verdict instead of within 90 days (as per rules) of the verdict, but admits the appeal calling for a joint trial of both 197/1992 and 198/1992 cases.APRIL 19, 2017 | After hearing a CBI appeal for six years, the Supreme Court directs to revive conspiracy charges against LK Advani and other top leaders. Invoking its inherent powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to overcome the “technical defects” in the October 8, 1993 notification, it ordered a joint trial of BJP leaders and kar sevaks in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Noting that the judge carrying on the trial in Rae Bareli was transferred a number of times, leading to delay, the SC transferred the proceedings of 198/1992 from Rae Bareli to Lucknow special court. It directed Lucknow court to club cases 197/1992 and 198/1992 and conduct a composite trial with dayto-day hearing and finish it within two years. During the hearing, CBI clarified that the offence of conspiracy was already contained in the charges made in 197/1992 before the Lucknow special court and that it was for this reason that section 120B charge was not added in the supplementary chargesheet filed against the eight accused at Rae BareliMAY 18, 2017 | The Lucknow special CBI court starts day-to-day hearingMAY 30, 2017 | Lucknow court frames charges against BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati and Viany Katiyar and VHP leaders Sadhvi Ritambhara and Vishnu Hari Dalmiya. All six were granted bail by CBI special judge SK Yadav on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each. Charges also framed against Ramvilas Vedanti, Baikunth Lal Sharma, Champat Rai Bansal, Ram Janmabhoomi Trust chief Mahant Nritya Gopaldas, Dharam Das and Satish Pradhan. All of them were accused of conspiracy to demolish Babri mosque.MAY 25, 2019 | Special judge SK Yadav, holding a daily trial in Lucknow, writes to the Supreme Court seeking six more months to conclude the matter. He also informed the apex court that he is due to superannuate on September 30, 2019.JULY 19, 2019 | The Supreme Court gives nine more months to the special judge to deliver the verdict by April 2020.AUGUST 23, 2019 | After reviewing Yadav’s letter, Supreme Court asked the UP government to look into the requests made by the special judge in his letter to the apex court considering the enormity of the work done by him. The court asks the government to devise a mechanism to extend the tenure of the special judge to enable him to conclude the trial.SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 | A day after Kalyan Singh demitted office as governor of Rajasthan, CBI moves an application before Lucknow court, seeking to summon him as an accused to face trial along with others for allegedly conspiring to demolish the Babri mosque.SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 | On directions of the Supreme Court, UP government extends tenure of the special judge till he delivers the judgment.SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 | Lucknow court frames charges against Kalyan Singh; also grants bail on personal bond of Rs 2 lakh.MAY 8, 2020 | Supreme Court extends the time to complete the trial by six months to August 31, 2020, considering the lockdown, on the request of the special judge. The deadline was later extended further to September 30.SEPTEMBER 1, 2020 | Final argument in the case concluded.SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 | Special judge SK Yadav says verdict would be pronounced on September 30 .