New Delhi: The fate of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders including L.K. Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on issues concerning the trial of those allegedly involved in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.
A bench comprising justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Rohinton Nariman indicated that it could direct a fresh joint trial at Lucknow.
Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation, agreed that a fresh trial is the only practical solution.
The former Union ministers and 16 others could face fresh charges of criminal conspiracy along with earlier charges of inciting violence and making inflammatory speeches.
“We need to do justice in cases like these. One party cannot get benefit from a technical defect. Seventeen years have passed and we haven’t addressed it,” the apex court said in an oral observation.
On 6 March, the apex court had decided to examine the appeal against dropping of conspiracy charge against the accused including Advani, Joshi and Uma Bharti.
Currently, a sessions court in Lucknow has put 47 karsevaks or ‘volunteers’ who were in and around the disputed structure on trial. In the last 25 years, 195 witnesses have been examined and 800 more are yet to testify before the court.
Separately, a court in Raebareli is holding trial of at least eight politicians for 17 years now in which 57 witnesses are examined and over 100 are yet to testify.
The court was also informed that the Raebareli court has been vacant without a judge for a few years now.
