NEW DELHI:  The Supreme Court on Friday directed that a judgement in the Babri Masjid demolition case against senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi and others should be delivered in nine months from Friday.

A bench headed by Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman observed that the trial court judge had made substantial progress in the trial so far. Therefore, extension for delivering the judgement had merit.

The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that the tenure of the trial court judge shall be extended in view of his retirement scheduled on September 30.

Therefore, the trial will take at least six months more from the date of retirement.

The Supreme Court observed it wants the Special Judge to continue and deliver the judgement even if the trial takes two more years.

The top court also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to hold consultation with the Allahabad High Court and pass necessary direction for extending the tenure of the Special Judge.

The court has asked the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to file an affidavit in relation to compliance of its order within four weeks.

It has emphasized that the trial should be completed in six months and, based on it, a judgement should be delivered in three further months.

A frenzied Hindu mob razed the 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. When this happened, Advani, Joshi and other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were present at the spot.
IANS