Apex Court favors joint trial of the accused to speed up the judicial process

NEW DELHI (TIP): In a major judgement handed down on April 19, Supreme Court of India ordered that the co-founder of the BJP, LK Advani, and other leaders be tried for criminal conspiracy in the demolition of Babri Masjid about 25 years ago.

The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was allegedly pulled down by Hindu activists in December 1992, leading to widespread riots in which more than 2,000 people died.

The apex court added that the trial must conclude within two years, a decision welcomed by Muslim clerics.

This is a huge setback for former BJP chief Lal Krishna Advani and his colleagues who have repeatedly denied making inflammatory speeches that encouraged Hindu mobs to tear down the Babri Masjid.

Those accused along with Mr Advani are senior BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti. They have all denied any wrongdoing, however, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has always said the destruction of the mosque was a planned event.

The Supreme Court has been hearing the case since 2011 after setting aside a high court judgement which allocated two-thirds of the disputed site to Hindu groups, and the remainder to Muslims.

The Allahabad High Court ruling in 2010 addressed three major issues. It said the disputed spot was Lord Ram’s birthplace, that the mosque had been built after the demolition of a temple and that it was not built in accordance with the tenets of Islam.

The Archaeological Survey of India, in 2003, had reported to the Allahabad High Court that its excavations found distinctive features of a 10th century temple beneath the Babri Mosque site.

For the first time in a judicial ruling, it also said that the disputed site was the birthplace of the Hindu god.

Hindus claim the mosque is the birthplace of one of their most revered deities, Lord Ram, and that Babri Masjid was built after the destruction of a Hindu temple by a Muslim invader in the 16th Century.