Advani cleared in Babri case

Charges will be framed against Joshi, Bharti, Katiyar, Singhal, G Kishore, Dalmiya and Ritambhara.

A special court on Friday cleared Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani in the Babri Masjid demolition case but ordered the framing of charges against seven others including Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi.

In a 130-page order, special judicial magistrate VK Singh said charges would be framed against Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Giriraj Kishore and Sadhvi Ritambhara.

Advani apparently got the benefit of the doubt as there were two sets of conflicting evidence against him while there was no contradiction in the evidence against Joshi and the others.

The magistrate observed that while some witnesses had said during their deposition that Advani had incited karsewaks to pull down the disputed structure, there were others who contended that the BJP leader was in fact trying to stop them.

Advani, according to one set of evidence, had expressed his displeasure over karsewaks not listening to his pleas against the demolition of the mosque.

Citing a Supreme Court ruling in the Union of India vs Prafulla Kumar Samal case (1979), the judge held that in the face of conflicting viewpoints, charges could not be sustained against the accused.

The judge, however, said in the case of Joshi and six others, the evidence that they allegedly incited the mob was one-sided.

Asked about the grounds on which Advani was discharged, defence counsel MS Ahluwalia said, “We prayed that all the accused be discharged."

“Charges against all the eight were almost the same, how the honourable judge has differentiated between them would be clear from the court's order,” he added.

Mridul Rakesh, counsel for all the accused, said he would challenge the verdict if his clients wanted such a line of action.

The case has reached the stage of framing of charges after about 10 years. It was transferred to Rae Bareli recently following a fresh notification issued by the Mayawati-led BSP-BJP government on the directive of the Supreme Court.