BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Wednesday met party veteran L K Advani and is understood to have discussed the Supreme Court's verdict restoring the criminal conspiracy charge against them in the Babri mosque demolition case.
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Wednesday met party veteran L K Advani and is understood to have discussed the Supreme Court's verdict restoring the criminal conspiracy charge against them in the Babri mosque demolition case.
The apex court order is being seen as a big setback to the two leaders whose names are doing the rounds for the posts of the President and the Vice President. Joshi drove down to Advani's residence and both leaders were closeted for over 40 minutes. They are understood to have deliberated upon the verdict's political and legal implications.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also huddled with party chief Amit Shah and Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu, at his residence. Earlier in the day, the apex court allowed the CBI plea to restore the criminal conspiracy charge against Advani, Joshi and Uma Bharti in the 1992 Babri demolition case.
The top court also clubbed the trial in the matter pending against the leaders and 'karsevaks' and ordered day- to-day trial with the proceedings to be completed in two years.
Bharti, who had earlier in the day said she would go to Ayodhya tonight, cancelled her visit apparently after being advised by the party leadership.
The charges for which BJP stalwarts L K Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and other VVIPs will be tried in the politically sensitive Babri Masjid demolition case, entails a punishment ranging from two to five years imprisonment.
The Supreme Court restored the offence of criminal conspiracy which was originally invoked against them along with other charges in the case.
They will be tried under Indian Penal Code offences for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc, imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration and statements conducing to public mischief of the IPC for which the maximum punishment is five years.
Other charges of injuring or defiling place of worship with the intent to insult the religion of any class entails maximum sentence of two years, while for the offence of deliberate and malicious acts intending to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs, carriesa maximum penalty of a three-year jail term.
Besides Advani(89), Joshi(83) and Bharti(57), others who will face trial are Champat Rai Bansal, Satish Pradhan, Dharam Das, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahamadleshwar Jagdish Muni, Ram Bilas Vadanti, Vaikunth Lal Sharma and Satish Chandra Nagar.
Those who have since died include Bal Thackeray, Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal and Paramhans Ram Chandra Das.
In the other case, charges framed against unknown karsevaks involve dacoity, which entails minimum 10 years jail or life imprisonment.
Other charges include robbery which entails a punishment of seven years, causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others and trespassing which carry two year and one year imprisonment.
The remaining charges are the same as that of the VIPs.
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