BABARI MASJID

Judicial Activism Bypasses Demolition of Babari Masjid

A Raghavan in The Blitz, 27July, 1996

As is known, 'judicial activism' is a current coinage. It is highly lauded in the context of criminalization of politics. The hawala racket gave it a permanent niche in the print media.

Judicial activism has completely bypassed the perpetrators of the horrendous Ayodhya vandalism. The Babari Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992. But, till today not even a beginning had been made to punish that crime against man and history.

And worse, the Liberhans-headed Commission of Inquiry probing the demolition, is virtually defunct with his appointment as the acting chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. That apart, the Delhi High Court, which had stayed the Commission's proceedings in August, 1995 has yet to pass its order. The Commission of Inquiry took a year to decide on the place of hearing, the presiding judge and the witnesses.

It examined 53 witnesses. Later, it served notices on 41 persons and five organizations. Those who were served notice included the former Home Secretary and UP's the then DG of Police. Both of them approached the Delhi High Court for stay orders, in August, 1995. A judgement on their petition is yet to be delivered.

The Government of India set up a Commission of Inquiry on December 13. On October 6, 1993, the CBI filed chargesheets against 40 persons before a Special Magistrate in Lucknow. The magistrate issued bailable warrants against the accused. But the accused unsuccessfully challenged the warrants by filing more than 100 interlocutory applications in the lower court.

They later moved the High Court which also rejected their plea. In the process, their bought time, sufficient enough for the people to forget the Ayodhya vandalism. Finally, the cases were committed to the sessions court on August 17, 1994. The charges were not framed in the first five sittings. But before that could be done, the sessions judge Vimal Kishore was transferred. The vacancy, created by his retirement on December 4, 1995 has not been filled, till today.

Though the CBI, in charge of investigation, believes that it has a strong case against the 40 charge sheeted accused, they have not been tried yet, because of the non- availability of a sessions judge to try the cases. It feels terribly let down by both the Allahabad HC and the UP government. There is overwhelming evidence against the demolition squad in the form of affidavits, FIRS, CBI's Tribunal, headed by two former Supreme Court judges own investigation reports, the report of the Citizen's and chief justice of a High Court. But these do not help long as there is no judicial machinery to process them.

The United Front's common minimum programme makes no mention about punishing the accused in the Masjid demolition.

If the current wave of judicial activism side-steps the Ayodhya outrage and overlooks its perpetrators, the UF government, pledged to fight communalism and uphold secularism, cannot afford to do so. It's a question of the collective political will of the United Front.

Sheer Mischief

Editorial, The Hindustan Times, 3 Aug., 1996

It is highly reprehensible that a section of the Sangh Parivar is keen on "liberating" the Kashi and Mathura shrines. As long as the BJP does not check this section, it will be considered a supporter of the objectionable Kashi, Mathura and eve" Ayod, when the country's move. Is there any sense in reviving emotive issues like problems are essentially political, economic and social? The nation has not yet recovered the after-effects of the Ayodhya incident and it can we be imagined how will cause to peace and communal harmony. The BJP MP much harm the revival of the Mathura and Kashi issues and VHP leader, Mr. Vinay Katiyar says instead of directly campaigning for the "liberation" of the shrines, he will demand the withdrawal of the legislation on status quo of religious shrines of 1947. This is nothing but sheer mischief and it is indeed a pity that the BJP has not pulled him up for this. The real issue is not any temple of UP. Like him, several others in the VHP believe that the any other place of worship but the coming elections in Kashi and Mathura issues can bring the Hindus together and the only beneficiary in the process will be the BJP. But the BJP will be committing a mistake if it accepts the Katiyar plan even indirectly. The Ayodhya incident is still fresh in the minds of the people.