The legal process in India can be needlessly tortuous and complicated. Nothing exemplifies this more than the >Babri Masjid demolition case in which pre-trial proceedings are bogged down in technicalities even though 22 years have elapsed since the structure at Ayodhya was brought down by Hindu chauvinists on a quest for medieval revenge, demanding in its stead a Ram temple. The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a joint charge sheet in respect of various offences that took place on December 6, 1992 but the higher judiciary is still grappling with the question whether the principal actors who planned the demolition and unleashed tens of thousands of kar sevaks on the 16th century mosque ought to be tried for criminal conspiracy. The Supreme Court has sought the response of former BJP president L.K. Advani and others in a >fresh petition that wants them to be tried for conspiracy to demolish the mosque at Ayodhya. The CBI has been given time to explain the delay in pursuing its appeal against an Allahabad High Court order of May 20, 2010, discharging Mr. Advani, Bal Thackeray and others. The CBI filed its appeal over three years ago, but this is on a fresh plea by Haji Mahboob Ahmad, a petitioner in the original dispute, expressing fears that the CBI may not make adequate efforts to pursue the case as the BJP is now in power.
The apprehension may not be misplaced as the agency did not include Section 120B (conspiracy) of the IPC while filing a >supplementary>charge sheet in >2003 , when the BJP headed the Central government. At that time, the High Court had quashed an Uttar Pradesh government notification transferring to Lucknow a case pertaining to those who instigated the demolition. The U.P. government had failed to issue a fresh notification to rectify the infirmity in the earlier one, while the CBI used the opportunity to file a charge sheet that invoked only provisions relating to rioting, provoking enmity between religious groups and acting against national integration. Many in the party’s old guard were prominent participants in the communal frenzy that brought down the mosque. However, representing a new dispensation and backed by a new generation, the Narendra Modi government does have an opportunity to expedite the legal process. Rather than letting the case lapse into irrelevance, the CBI should seek to convince the court to order a quick and complete criminal trial. It is not enough if the case comes up from time to time as a news story without recording any progress. After all, the legacy of communal bitterness as a result of the demolition remains, and there can never be closure to the collective hurt India suffered, without the curators of the abominable crime being brought to justice.
