The Supreme Court issued notices to senior BJP leaders LK Advani, MM Joshi and 19 others, asking them to explain their stand on a fresh petition challenging their discharge on the grounds of criminal conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case, while granting more time to the Central Bureau of Investigation to present its views.
A bench headed by CJI HL Dattu sought responses from the BJP leaders after senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the petition filed by Haji Mahboob Ahmad challenging the high court order of May 2010, which had confirmed a trial court order dropping charges of conspiring to create enmity between different sections against 21 accused in the case.
The other accused include the late Bal Thackeray (against whom the charges have since abated), Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Sadhvi Rithambara, VH Dalmia, Mahant Avaidhya Nath, Mahant Param Hans and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, among others. CBI, which was prosecuting the case, did not appeal against the HC order for a long time. Now, the court will first hear CBI's explanation on the delay in filing the appeal before actually going into the merits of the discharge order. Along with the CBI appeal, the court will hear the fresh petition challenging the discharge of several top BJP leaders.These are expected to be heard after four weeks. The case has been listed on April 1, but before a new bench.
At the outset of the hearing, the CBI, through Additional Solicitor General Neeraj Kishan Kaul, sought more time to defend the delay in filing an appeal as also the merits of the discharge of these leaders in court. With a change in the central government in the interim, CBI will have to first decide the path on which to embark.
The earlier course will go against the government, but a change in stance on CBI's part will be difficult. The only other course could be to hope that SC decides not to hear its appeal on the grounds of delay . CBI in its appeal against the discharge has pointed out that two cases were separate and hence the trial court should not have mixed up the two to discharge accused involved in both. In one, the persons were involved in actual demolition and in the other they weren't, CBI said.
A bench headed by CJI HL Dattu sought responses from the BJP leaders after senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the petition filed by Haji Mahboob Ahmad challenging the high court order of May 2010, which had confirmed a trial court order dropping charges of conspiring to create enmity between different sections against 21 accused in the case.
The other accused include the late Bal Thackeray (against whom the charges have since abated), Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Sadhvi Rithambara, VH Dalmia, Mahant Avaidhya Nath, Mahant Param Hans and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, among others. CBI, which was prosecuting the case, did not appeal against the HC order for a long time. Now, the court will first hear CBI's explanation on the delay in filing the appeal before actually going into the merits of the discharge order. Along with the CBI appeal, the court will hear the fresh petition challenging the discharge of several top BJP leaders.These are expected to be heard after four weeks. The case has been listed on April 1, but before a new bench.
At the outset of the hearing, the CBI, through Additional Solicitor General Neeraj Kishan Kaul, sought more time to defend the delay in filing an appeal as also the merits of the discharge of these leaders in court. With a change in the central government in the interim, CBI will have to first decide the path on which to embark.
The earlier course will go against the government, but a change in stance on CBI's part will be difficult. The only other course could be to hope that SC decides not to hear its appeal on the grounds of delay . CBI in its appeal against the discharge has pointed out that two cases were separate and hence the trial court should not have mixed up the two to discharge accused involved in both. In one, the persons were involved in actual demolition and in the other they weren't, CBI said.
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