2017-04-19 14:38:00

India’s BJP leaders to face trial in 1992 mosque demolition ‎case


The Supreme Court of India has ordered four senior members of  Prime Minister Naredra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to stand trial for conspiracy in the 1992 demolition of an ancient mosque that triggered Hindu-Muslim riots that killed thousands. A Bench of Justices P.C. Ghose and Rohinton F. Nariman, exercised the Supreme Court’s extraordinary constitutional powers under Article 142, to revive the criminal conspiracy charges of the Central Bureau of Investigation against L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh in the Babri Masjid demolition cases.  Singh, who was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992, will not be tried now as he enjoys constitutional immunity as Rajasthan Governor, but can be tried only after he leaves office.

The Allahabad High Court had earlier dropped conspiracy charges against the accused.  The Bench has revived CBI’s appeal against the high court and also clubbed it with current cases going on in two courts in Raebareli and Lucknow against the four and others.

Hindu groups say the 16th century Babri Mosque was built after a temple dedicated to the Hindu god King Ram was destroyed by Muslim invaders. Hindu fundamentalists with pickaxes and crowbars razed the structure to the ground in December 1992.  The attack on the mosque in Ayodhya, 350 miles (550 kilometers) east of New Delhi, sparked the largest explosion of Hindu-Muslim violence in the country in decades, leaving 2,000 people dead. Thousands more died in later violence caused by disputes over the site.

Hindu hard-liners, including BJP members, say they want to build a new temple to Ram on the site.  The four party leaders are accused of making inflammatory speeches that incited thousands of their followers who had camped out in Ayodhya ahead of the attack on the mosque.  The four have said that the mosque's demolition was a spontaneous eruption by angry Hindu activists. Advani, now 89, has served as India's home minister and deputy prime minister. He also served as president of the BJP. Joshi and Bharti are both federal lawmakers, and Bharti is also member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet.

The Supreme Court said that the trial will held in Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital.  A separate case is already underway involving about 20 people accused of the actual demolition of the mosque.   The Supreme Court has said that both trials should be combined and a final verdict reached within two years.








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