The Hindu : Front Page : Include criminal charges in Babri cases: AIMPLB

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Monday, Dec 21, 2009
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Include criminal charges in Babri cases: AIMPLB

Atiq Khan

LUCKNOW: The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday demanded that the Centre instruct the Central Bureau of Investigation to include charges of criminal conspiracy in the Babri cases pending in the Rae Bareli and Lucknow special courts.

The Board said the charges were in the combined charge sheet filed by the CBI but were deleted in 2003 when it was split. The board members would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the near future to press the demand, it was decided at an AIMPLB executive committee meeting at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema here.

Discussing the report of the Liberhan Commission, the board approved its findings that the RSS, the VHP, the BJP and the Shiv Sena were responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya.

Briefing journalists, board spokesperson and assistant secretary-general Maulana Abdul Rahim Qureishi said the Centre’s assurance on expediting the pending criminal cases was not enough. The CBI should be instructed to produce before the special courts all material it had collected, and orders taken from the Allahabad High Court for day-to-day hearings in the Rae Bareli and Lucknow courts.

Maulana Qureishi said a first information report should be filed against those whose names were not mentioned in the CBI charge sheet but were included in the Liberhan report in the list of 68 persons “culpable” for the demolition.

Though the report could not be placed as evidence, it could form the basis of investigation and a fresh charge sheet, he said.

The Centre should declare in Parliament that it would respect the final judicial verdict in the title suit of the Babri Masjid before the High Court.

Alleging that the action taken report (ATR) on the Liberhan findings was not taken seriously by the Union government, the board said the proposed Prevention of Communal Violence Bill would not serve the purpose. Instead, it would provide an opportunity to perpetrate atrocities on Muslims and weaker sections. The opinion of all segments should be elicited before the Bill was reintroduced, the board suggested.

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