The Hindu : 'CBI filed a diluted chargesheet'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 20, 2003

National

National

'CBI filed a diluted chargesheet'

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI SEPT. 19 . The Opposition parties and the minority organisations today expressed surprise at the Rae Bareily court's order discharging the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, as an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, while framing charges against the Union Human Resource Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, and six others.

However, the Congress was neutral in its response but other Opposition parties did not shy away from focussing on Mr. Advani's discharge, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) blaming the Central Bureau of Investigation for it.

The Congress said that it would prefer to give an "informed political comment'' after perusing the court order. Yet, it emphasised that it would watch the response of the CBI and the Uttar Pradesh Government in this regard.

The CPI(M) politburo said the discharge of Mr. Advani "confirms the worst apprehensions about scuttling of the case by the CBI." It alleged that the CBI filed a diluted chargesheet against the eight accused by dropping the charge of criminal conspiracy and stating it had no audio-visual evidence to present against the chief accused in the case, a view echoed by the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board.

"It would be a grave miscarriage of justice if those responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid are not made to answer the charge before a court of law. The CBI will have to take necessary steps to prevent this happening. Mr. Advani will have to face the charges levelled against him by the original CBI chargesheet admitted in 1997 if the rule of law has to prevail", the party said.

The Communist Party of India said the court order established that by demolishing the Babri Masjid a crime had been committed and the criminals responsible for the act, identified and chargesheeted. "What defies logic, however, and cannot be understood is how Mr. Joshi and the others are to be chargesheeted, while the main organiser and initiator, who was present at the site on the occasion, has been let off. Is it because he happens to be the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister?" the CPI central secretariat asked.

The All-India Forward Bloc general secretary, Debabrata Biswas, expressed surprise over the acquittal of Mr. Advani whom it alleged was the "mastermind of the demolition plan.''

The Rashtriya Lok Dal president, Ajit Singh, found it ironical that "a man who started the movement, made fiery speeches and exhorted people all the way from Somnath to Ayodhya, should be discharged".

The CPI(ML) general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya, said the "flawed and weak manner" in which the case was fought by successive Central and State Governments, coupled with the "misuse of CBI", exposed the lack of political will on the part of the ruling elite to give a real, secular orientation to Indian polity.

Apart from the political parties, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board expressed surprise at the discharge of Mr. Advani. The Board convener, Qasim Rasool Illyas, told The Hindu that it was "unfortunate that the spearhead of the movement to demolish the masjid, the main culprit in the case, has been spared.''

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National