New Delhi: Today, i.e. on 10th March, the honourable Apex Court’s Justice- V. Gopala Gowda recused himself from hearing the appeals relating to the dropping of the Criminal conspiracy charge against the leaders- Murli Manohar Joshi, LK Advani, Uma Bharti and other BJP- VHP (Bhartiya Janata Party – Vishwa Hindu Parishad) leaders in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
The Bench of the Apex Court headed by Justice- V. Gopala Gowda and also comprising of Justice- Arun Mishra has stated that “let the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India” for its allocation to some other Bench. The Justice- Gowda without citing any reason recused himself from hearing in the case. It was seen that one Haji Mahboob Ahmad and the CBI have filed the appeals against the dropping of the Conspiracy charges against the Senior leaders to BJP- Advani and Joshi and also 16 other people, for demolition of the disputed Babari Masjid in Ayodhya in the year 1992 (December).
It was claimed in the plea that the order (2010) of the High Court of Allahabad be set aside, as it had dropped section 120B (criminal conspiracy) under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, while upholding decision of the Special Court. It was also seen earlier back in 2015 (September) that the CBI had told the Apex Court that its decision- making was not influenced by anyone and dropping of criminal conspiracy charges was not at its instance.
Earlier, the Apex court had sought responses from BJP leaders- Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti and others on Ahmad’s plea, and also from the Himachal Pradesh Governor Kalyan Singh. It was also seen that in the 16 others of accused(s), the Shiv Sena Supremo- Bal Thackeray and VHP’s leader- Acharya Giriraj Kishore were also included along with Vinay Katiyar, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, C. R. Bansal, Ashok Singhal, R. V. Vedanti, V. H. Dalmia, Giriraj Kishore, etc.
It was also seen that the High Court Allahabad when it had upheld the dropping of charges, had also allowed the CBI for proceeding with other charges against Advani and others in Rae Bareily Court.
Adv. Faim Khalilkhan Pathan