Babri case: If judge's tenure can be extend, asks SC

The Supreme Court on Monday sought to know from the Uttar Pradesh government if the tenure of the special judge, hearing the Babri mosque demolition case against BJP veterans L K Advani and M M Joshi, could be extended till he delivered the judgement in the matter.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Surya Kant gave the state government time till July 19 to inform if such a mechanism could be worked out as the special judge was due to superannuate on September 30.

In a letter, the special judge, Lucknow has sought time six more months time to conclude the trial.

The top court had on April 19, 2017 ordered that senior BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti would face criminal conspiracy charges for their role in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.

The case shook the secular fabric of the Constitution 25 years ago and the accused could not be tried for “technical defects” in view of the conduct of the CBI and the Uttar Pradesh government, the court said.

It had ordered the separate trials being conducted in trial courts at Rae Bareli and Lucknow to be clubbed and conducted in the capital of Uttar Pradesh only, and directed it to be completed in two years by holding the proceedings in a day-to-day manner.

Besides Advani and Joshi, former BJP MP Vinay Katiar, and former minister Uma Bharati, Sadhvi Ritambara and others faced the charges of criminal conspiracy in the case. Then UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, however, could be spared in view of immunity granted to him for being Governor of Rajasthan.