The Hindu : Front Page : Advani, others absolved of conspiracy charge

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Friday, May 21, 2010
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Advani, others absolved of conspiracy charge

Atiq Khan

Allahabad High Court upholds order in Babri case

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday dismissed the CBI's revision petition that challenged a special court's decision to drop conspiracy charges against BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

The single-judge Bench of Justice Alok Kumar Singh upheld the lower court's order of May 4, 2001 and turned down the CBI's plea to proceed with the conspiracy charge. Mr. Advani and others faced charges in two cases arising out of two separate FIRs.

The first, where a conspiracy was alleged against “lakhs of unknown kar sevaks,” was for the offence of demolition (case 197).

The second, which specifically charged Mr. Advani and sangh parivar leaders with making inflammatory speeches leading to the demolition (case 198), was tried in a special court in Rae Bareli.

The two cases were later merged and handed over to the CBI, which filed a composite charge sheet on October 5, 1993. However, due to a technical flaw, the two cases were revived by an order of the High Court on February 12, 2001. On May 4, 2001, Sessions Judge Srikant Shukla dropped the conspiracy charge against Mr. Advani and others, reasoning that case number 197 related only to kar sevaks.

Thursday's High Court order that upheld Mr. Shukla's ruling effectively frees Mr. Advani and others from the conspiracy charge.

However, the judgment does not affect the second case (case 198), which continues in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Rae Bareli.

Senior IPS officer Anju Gupta recently testified in the case against Mr. Advani. Ms. Gupta, who was Mr. Advani's personal security officer in Ayodhya when the mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992, alleged that provocative speeches were made by Mr. Advani minutes before the masjid was brought down.

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