By Binoy Viswam
The judgement of the special CBI court on Babri Masjid demolition case poses serious questions over the concept of justice in present day India. Acquitting all the 32 swayam sevaks including L K Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi, the court explained to the nation the real face of judiciary under various compulsions. The 2300-page verdict was an explicit exercise undertaken by the court to justify the illegal act that happened in Ayodhya on December 6th, 1992. The verdict though not unexpected signals a caution of alarm before secular India. The CBI special court behaved in a ‘special ‘ manner to tell the people of India that the demolition was spontaneous.
The court was especially eager to reject the charges of criminal conspiracy in the whole episode. The special court may have its own reasons for the drafting of such a judgement. But the country cannot forget the whole history of Babri Masjid demolition. It is a decade long history where communally surcharged ideas played an undeniable role. The Karseva and the ‘symbolic shilanyas’ was planned as part of a grand design. Thousands of sangh parivar activists were present on the site as pre-planned by the master brain. The court now anxiously called them as “arajhaks (hooligans)” and pleaded innocence from the part of the 32 accused. A spontaneous mobilization and a spontaneous demolition!
The judgement went to the extent of talking about flowers and water in the hands of karsevaks. As the purpose of the organizers was to perform a serene puja there according to the court, the 400-year-old structure was brought down by the puja of flowers and water. The court was particularly committed to depict the happenings on that dark day as nothing but accidental. The honourable court took no notice of the ‘innocent’ slogans chanted by the karsevaks. One among those slogans was “hum aise banayenge Hindu rashtra”! Before and after the demolition the sangh parivar forces, including the acquitted, were telling their followers that the Janmabhumi movement was the prelude to the realization of Hindu rashtra. Judiciary in India today sometimes opt to close their eyes towards history and truth. The verdict of the CBI special court stands testimony to it.
The Supreme Court of India in its Ayodhya judgement last year stated, “the destruction of the mosque and the obliteration of the Islamic structure was an egregious violation of the rule of law”. The apex court, while giving a verdict in favour of Hindutva claims, termed the demolition as an illegal act. Now the CBI court turns this illegal act into innocent spontaneous action. The egregious violation suddenly becomes the spur of the moment action committed by unidentified anti-social elements. According to its narration, these unidentified persons decided on their own to bring down the structure. All these descriptions speak of the plight of the Indian judiciary today. Judiciary alone cannot be judicious when the whole system of governance adopts a different track. The present path of nation building undertaken by the executives is casting its shadow on the legislature and the judiciary alike.
The coming days are becoming more and more challenging for the people of India. The basic structure of the constitution which is considered to be unquestionable is also facing these challenges. The attack on the peasants and workers is also part of a grand design aimed at the basic structure that is democracy, secularism, sovereignty and socialism. That is why the special court judgement cannot be evaluated in isolation. Constitutional morality and democratic propriety warrants that the government should go for an appeal against this verdict. But why should they do so when the judgment suits their interests? (IPA Service)