Headlines
SC to hold final hearing in Babri demolition conspiracy case
New Delhi, March 30
The Supreme Court Tuesday
will take up on April 1 for final hearing the CBI's appeal challenging
2010 Allahabad High Court verdict discharging of L.K. Advani and 19
other senior leaders of BJP and Hindu outfits the charges of criminal
conspiracy in the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
A
bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra will hear the
Central Bureau of Investigation's appeal which was last listed before
the apex court February 5 when it was directed to be listed for final
hearing on "1st April, 2014 before an appropriate bench".
Though
the matter is pending before the apex court since March 3, 2011, but it
for the first time it is coming up for hearing after formation of the
Narendra Modi government triggering speculation whether there would be
any shift in the stand of the government from the one taken by the UPA
government.
The notice on the CBI plea was issued March 3, 2011 and the matter has been listed before the court 23 times.
The
CBI which had moved the apex court February 18, 2011, nearly nine
months after the Allahabad High Court verdict May 20, 2010, has yet to
persuade the court on the justification for delay in challenging the
high court order.
The CBI in its appeal before the apex court has
said that the verdict discharging Advani and others of the offence of
criminal conspiracy "is inconsistent with the previous judgment rendered
by the Allahabad High Court on February 12, 2001".
The Lucknow
bench of Allahabad High court by its February 12, 2001 order had held
that the trial court committed no illegality in taking "cognizance of
joint consolidated charge sheet and all the offences were committed in
the course of the same transaction to accomplish the conspiracy".
The high court by its said order had noted that the "evidence for all the offences was almost the same".
Besides
Advani, other accused include senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders
M.M.Joshi, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and former Uttar Pradesh chief
minister Kalyan Singh, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders Ashok Singhal,
Giriraj Kishore, Hari Dalmiya, Sadhvi Ritambrara, and Mahant
Avaidyanath.