Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti's fates hang in balance as CBI court to deliver Babri Masjid demolition verdict on Wednesday

Did Advani and others conspire to raze the Babri masjid in 1992? A special CBI court in Lucknow will deliver its verdict today

FACING TRIAL

L K Advani. Was only an MP at that time. Gave a speech to kar sevaks before Babri masjid was brought down, earlier in 1990 he had led a rath yatra

Murli Manohar Joshi. Was BJP president when the mosque was demolished; he was also at the site and addressed kar sevaks

Kalyan Singh. Was UP chief minister. Had given Supreme Court an undertaking that he will not allow any damage to the mosque

Uma Bharti. Was at the site on demolition day. Liberhan Commission accused her of inciting the mob; she took moral responsibility for the demolition

Vinay Katiyar, then Bajrang Dal chief. Was BJP MP from Faizabad at the time of demolition in 1992. It is believed the conspiracy to demolish the structure was hatched at his place

Mahant Nritya Gopal Das. Head of Ayodhya’s largest temple and actively associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement since 1984

Ram Vilas Vedanti. Ex-BJP MP and Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas member, he claimed to have incited the mob to raze the mosque

Sadhvi Rithambara. Founder-chairperson of Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of VHP; her speeches played a major role in the demolition of the masjid

Champat Rai, current VHP vice-president and general secretary of Ram temple trust

The story so far

After a Rae Bareli court discharged former BJP chief L K Advani in the plot case in 2003 citing insufficient proof, all other co-accused were absolved by and by.

The Allahabad High Court upheld the orders in 2010. A year later, the CBI approached the SC to revive the conspiracy case. In 2017, SC gave its green light after quashing the HC order

CASES

• When Babri masjid was demolished on Dec 6, 1992, two cases 197/1992 and 198/1992 were registered through two FIRs at the Ram Janamabhoomi police station, Ayodhya.

• Case number 197/1992: Filed against unknown kar sevaks under IPC sections 395 (dacoity), 397(dacoity or robbery with attempt to cause death), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servants), 337, 338 (grievous hurt), 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult religion of any class), 297 (trespass in any place of worship) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion).

• Case number 198/1992: Named eight accused Askok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara. They were booked under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 505 IPC (intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community).

• 47 more FIRs lodged on complaints of mediapersons who were assaulted and their cameras and equipment snatched; the charges were robbery, rioting and mischief etc..

Others: Sakshi Maharaj, Brij Bhushan Singh, Lallu Singh (all BJP MPs); Ravindra Nath Srivastava, then Faizabad DM; Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, then minister in MP; Mahant Dharam Das; Satish Pradhan; Acharya Dharmendra Dev; Pawan Kumar Pandey; Jai Bhagwan Goyal, Rashtrawadi Shiv Sena head; Ramji Gupta; Prakash Sharma; Dharmendra Singh Gurjar; Ram Chandra Khatri, Sudhir Kakkar, Aman Nath Goyal, Santosh Dubey, Om Prakash Pandey, Vinay Kumar Rai, Kamlesh Tripathi, Gandhi Yadav, Vijay Bahadur Singh and Naveen Bhai Shukla (all kar sevaks)

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