WHAT’S THE FUSS ? : TOP DRAWER

Judiciary was always considered sacrosanct. Disagreement with a judgement by the aggrieved party is understandable. But one always refrained from attaching motives to the court rulings and criticising it in the public. Constitution allows the aggrieved party to approach a superior court to redress their grievances. Often the verdict delivered by a lower court is overruled by a higher court. And that is the beauty of a well-established judicial system in India.

However, imputing motives to judgement and criticising the judge has become fashionable now. It did not come as a big surprise when a section of the society, led by some politicians frustrated by being forced to sit in the opposition by the public, went hammer and tongs against the special CBI judge S.K. Yadav who acquitted all 32 accused including BJP veterans Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in the December 6, 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.

Judge Yadav in his ruling last week said that the investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to produce any evidence before it to establish the conspiracy theory behind the demolition of the 16th-century structure that the Hindu community considered is the birthplace of their deity Lord Rama. If any, the blame lies squarely with the CBI and not the court. CBI was tasked to investigate the conspiracy theory when the Congress party was in the power. The court is supposed to be blind. The judiciary is not expected to use conjectures to arrive at a conclusion and convict an accused. If the court said it did not have evidence to establish that the Babri demolition was part of a conspiracy, it cannot be censured for it.

Anyway, I am of the firm belief that this case should have been dismissed soon after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Hindus and handed over the 2.77 acres of the disputed land, including the land where the controversial mosque once stood on November 9 last year. If the apex court ruled that the land belonged to a particular community and allowed construction of a temple there, demolition of a dilapidated and deserted structure cannot be ruled as a crime – conspiracy or no conspiracy.

The congress party-led opposition, as expected, is seeing the red. First, the Supreme Court and then the special CBI court has taken away an issue based on which they tried to become champions of the minorities. What must have shocked them the most is that the Muslim community, by and large, remained indifferent to these verdicts.

Justice (Retired) M.S. Liberhan was among the first to criticise judge Yadav’s ruling, saying the conspiracy angle was well established before the one-man commission of inquiry that he headed. Coming as it did, Liberhan’s allegation is difficult to stomach. If anyone, he should take the responsibility for killing this case. The commission was set up within 10 days of the Babri demolition and given three months to submit its report. But somehow, Justice Liberhan preferred to enjoy the perks that go with heading a commission of inquiry, sought and got 47 extensions and submitted its report after a delay of 17 years in 2009 when another extension was refused. The Ayodhya structure was demolished when the Congress party was in power at the centre, the Liberhan Commission was constituted when the Congress party was in power, and it submitted its report when the Congress party was in power. But the Congress party opted to keep quiet on it for reasons only known to its leadership.

Coming to the alleged conspiracy theory, notwithstanding what the court may have ruled, being an eyewitness to the demolition from Ground Zero, I strongly believe that the demolition was planned well in advance. I am not sure if I was the only journalist who witnessed the demolition. I saw journalists being beaten and pushed out. I survived as I started posing as a karsevak (volunteer). A normal karsevak was not supposed to come to do the symbolic service with hammer and pickaxe. As they started working, I clearly remember Advani on the public address system requesting the frenzied mob not to do it. He appeared and sounded helpless. “Aapko Bhagwan Ram ki saugandh, neeche utar aaeye,” Advani kept requesting. Advani appeared as a typical example of someone who can create a monster but cannot control it.

By the time first of the three domes were demolished, Uma Bharti could be heard coxing and cajoling the crowd with her slogan “ek dhakka aur do, Babri masjid tod do”. It was winter and around 4 pm. The sun had started going down in the western horizon. It won’t be long when dark would descend and the central forces coming and protecting the structure the next morning was a real threat. And this is where everyone present at the site was requested to move away. They could not afford to leave the task unfinished. Two loud sounds and the remaining two domes came down in no time. It definitely was not done manually. Since I was pretending to be a karsevak, I asked someone what it was. “Dynamite sticks. Karsevaks from Punjab had brought it,” I was told.

Hammer, pickaxe and dynamite sticks were brought and there was no conspiracy? No advance planning??

The failure was on the part of the CBI, Justice Liberhan’s unusual delay in submitting his report and reluctance of the Congress party government at the centre to take any action on it. Why blame judge Yadav for their failures?

I only hope that for the sake of independence of the judiciary, judge Yadav who delivered the verdict on his last day in the office is not offered any political lollipop by the BJP government, as was done in the case of Justice Ranjan Gogoi whom it nominated to the Rajya Sabha, stoking apprehensions that the Supreme Court buckled under some political pressure while delivering the Ayodhya verdict last year. It would be a travesty of justice if judge Yadav is nominated to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council or offered nomination by the BJP to contest an election.