Judge who acquitted Babri demolition accused made Deputy Lok Ayukta: Justice Rohinton Nariman

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Nariman on Thursday recounted how the political heavyweights of the Bharata Janata Party (BJP) accused of conspiring to orchestrate the demolition of Babri Masjid mosque in 1992, were acquitted by the trial court despite Supreme Court's interventions..He narrated how he, as a Supreme Court judge, had passed orders restarting the trial which lay dormant for nearly 25 years.Despite all that, special CBI judge Surendra Yadav, who tried the case, eventually acquitted all the accused and then proceeded to get a post-retirement job as Deputy Lokayukta with the State of Uttar Pradesh."This is the state of affairs in this country," Justice Nariman lamented.Justice Nariman was delivering the inaugural lecture of the Ahmadi Foundation established in the memory of Justice AM Ahmadi, the 26th Chief Justice of India (CJI).He was speaking on the topic 'Secularism and Indian Constitution'. A biography - 'The Fearless Judge' - of Justice Ahmadi was also released at the event.A special court in Lucknow had in September 2020 acquitted former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh, BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, and several others in the Babri Masjid demolition case.The demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992 dominated the political narrative for decades, and in the words of the Supreme Court, shook the the secular fabric of the Constitution of India.However, the special court held that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to produce any conclusive evidence to prove any connivance that led to the destruction of the mosque.The trial was conducted for the alleged commission of offences under Sections 147 (Rioting), 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion), 153-B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship) 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), and 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) IPC read with Sections 149 (Unlawful assembly) and 120B (Criminal conspiracy) IPC.The special court held that there was nothing on record to establish the existence of a conspiracy to demolish the Babri Masjid..After acquitting everybody, he retired and was made Upa Lokayukta in the State of UP. This is the state of affairs in this country."Justice Rohinton Nariman .In his address on Thursday, Justice Nariman explained the chain of events leading to the acquittal.There were two first information reports (FIRs) lodged in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition."As soon as the mosque was broken down, two FIRs were lodged. One, FIR 197, concerned acts of Kar Saveaks who came and chiseled down the mosque. And the other, FIR 198, was against senior leaders of BJP LK Advani and co, exhorting the Kar Sevaks to do so," Justice Nariman said.He then narrated how the two matters came to him in 2017 by chance and he passed orders under Article 142 of the Constitution to restart the trial."Until it came to me in 2017 quite by chance - when I was sitting with Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose - nothing had taken place with regard to these two FIRs, for 25 years. It was astounding," he stated.The trial in the two FIRs were then proceeding separately in two places as a result of which the conspiracy charge had gotten omitted."What happened was. You had to constitute a special court to try these offences. Now to constitute that special court by consulting the High Court. So it was done with respect to FIR 197 but omitted to do so as regards FIR 198. The result was what was to be a joint chargesheet and joint trial got bifurcated. This defect could have been rectified but State government did not do so. The result was another chargesheet had to be filed in Rae Bareli against the eight leaders. So now there were two criminal trials going on, one in Lucknow and another in Raebareli and the criminal conspiracy charge which was common to both was out of the window," Justice Nariman said.The Bench headed by him then exercised its powers under Article 142 to order a single joint trial and also to reinstate the conspiracy charge.The Bench also ordered that the trial judge hearing the matter shall not be transferred and the trial should be completed in 2 years."So now when all this ultimately came to us (in Supreme Court), we used our powers under Article 142 - I wrote the judgment- and held transfer the Raebareli proceedings to Lucknow, reinstate the criminal conspiracy charge (120B of Indian Penal Code), and have one special judge trying this matter day to day with no adjournments and that the judge will not be transferred come what may and all this must be completed within 2 years," the former judge stated.He also narrated how the Supreme Court made sure that the trial judge delivers the judgement."The special judge applies to us again after 2 years and we said 'alright we will give you little more time'. What was not known to us was he was due to retire. So once again 142 came to the rescue and we made an unprecedented order that he will not retire until he gives the judgment. So we caught him by the scruff of the neck and said ' you will go to judgment'," the judge stated.Eventually the judge acquitted all the accused,"And it took him 3.5 years to go to judgment and you know what he did - acquitted everybody. And after acquitting everybody, he retired and was made Upa Lokayukta in the State of UP," the former judge recounted..[Watch the full lecture below].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.