By Albert Thyrniang
It was around 6 pm on December 6, 1992 during the evening recess in a residential facility that this writer and his fellow inmates heard of the demolition of Babri Masjid on All India Radio. As we listened with rapt attention we could sense a heavy pall of gloom descending, matched only by the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Later that evening in the 8 o’clock news, images of the destruction of the 470 year old mosque was shown by Doordarshan Kendra. It was a horrific act of hooliganism and the most shameful desecration of a religious place.
My innocent mind thought that those who scaled atop the sacred structure and razed it to the ground would be immediately arrested to face the full force of the law. Alas, this expectation came to naught even after almost 28 years. On October 30 the Special CBI Court’s verdict acquitted all the surviving 32 accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case. It was an absolute shocker. To know that all the accused went scot free after a clean chit by the designated court is hard to come to terms with. Naturally a sense of disbelief enveloped the whole nation as soon as the judgement was pronounced which merely stated that the sixteenth century mosque was razed to the ground by thousands of armed “hooligan kar sevaks”.
Reactions on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms ranged from, ‘What! So no one brought down the mosque?’, ‘How did the masjid come down?’ ‘Did the structure crumble on its own?’ ‘Was it magic that the mosque disappeared into thin air?’ ‘No one is responsible for the demolition?’‘Was the mosque demolished legally?’ Responses in the electronic and print media were also similar. Stunned by the verdict many called the ‘judgement day’ a ‘sad and black day’ and termed it a travesty of justice. A political party saw the CBI court’s ruling contrary to the Supreme Court’s verdict which had declared that the demolition of the mosque in the disputed site was illegal. Opinion makers viewed the judgment as yet another example of the judiciary losing its credibility while indicting the CBI for its shoddy work. They called for an immediate appeal against the disappointing order.
Those celebrating were the BJP, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and of course the acquitted accused who belong mainly to the Sangh Parivar. Prominent among them are the architects of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, LK Advani, ideologue Murli Manhohar Joshi, former Uttar Pradesh CM, Kalyan Singh and firebrand leader Uma Bharti. The 92-year-old Advani and Joshi chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in celebration on hearing the favourable judgement.
Not just the common man but lawyers consider the demolition of Babri Masjid an open and shut case. The nearly half a million kar sevaks who had already assembled in Ayodhya in the first days of December 1992, were armed with pickaxes, spades, shovels, and other tools. Leading to the nightmarish spectacle was the inflammatory build-up for several months in full public view. True to the anticipation and fear of many, the commitment made in Parliament and before the Supreme Court was violated and the unthinkable happened.
The demolition dealt a lethal blow to the image of a secular India. But not for the demolishers! All the while BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders were present in large numbers amid unprecedented security measures and the presence of national and international media. Reportedly, after the ‘accomplishment’ photographs and videos captured the smiles of the leaders on the spot, the hugs, the distribution of sweets and the raising of slogans before and after the criminal act that the Supreme Court called a ‘national shame’. In spite of these ‘evidences’not one of the accused is brought to justice for conspiracy to bring down Babur-built mosque.
The Justice Liberhan Commission, set up to probe the sequence of events that led to the demolition, in its report submitted on June 30, 2009, found that the demolition was pre-planned. The longest running inquiry commissions in the country that saw 399 sittings and 48 extensions concluded that the purpose of conducting the ‘temple movement’ was to demolish the mosque.
According to the commission the Sangh Parivar organisations like the RSS, VHP and the BJP raised several crores of rupees which were utilised for effecting the events of December 6, 1992. The mobilisation of kar sevaks that converged at Ayodhya was neither spontaneous nor voluntary. ‘It was well orchestrated and planned’. The Commission said that the actual demolition was not carried out spontaneously out of sheer anger or emotions. The removal of the idols and the cash box from under the dome; the subsequent reinstallation in the make-shift temple; the construction of the makeshift temple, were painstakingly prepared and pre-planned. Needless to say the Commission heavily indicted the aforementioned BJP, RSS, VHP leaders. The findings of the commission have been reduced to naught.
It is questionable how the special court could not find sufficient evidence or that the prosecutors could not present adequate proof to convict the accused. “All evidence in the charge sheet was examined. The crime alleged against the accused could not be proven,” summarised the court in its 2,300-page judgement. It is astonishing that newspaper clippings, video cassettes, tapes, printed material, speeches, and witness testimonies could not convince the court to nail the accused. According to law, photographs, video recording, newspapers reports, etc, are compelling evidences in court, but not for the judge of the special court who asserted that the video chips and images were edited and tampered with rendering them all not credible. The judge also rejected the testimony of witnesses who saw the accused exhorting kar sevaks to demolish the mosque because there was a lot of dust inside the complex packed with lakhs of kar sevaks. It bewilders how those responsible for barbaric savagery have managed to evade justice.
Our faith in the judiciary has taken a beating yet again. The incident took place in broad day light. The whole world witnessed it. Those who ascended the dome of the mosque with pickaxe, spades, shovels can be easily identified. The right wing leaders of a political party and militant organisations who mobilised the crowd and deliberately took the mob to the level of religious frenzy, not only on that fateful day but over a period of time, are well known. Nothing is left to the imagination. If such an obvious crime is without criminals, then what about other lesser crimes? If no one is punished for this beastly act then there is little hope for justice in this country to triumph. The judiciary has once again failed the nation miserably. Equally responsible is the CBI and the prosecuting team for this utter failure to convince the court to punish the guilty.
Once again the nation has let down a section of it citizens – the Muslims. A hostile political and social atmosphere towards the community is compounded by the judiciary which is perceived to have repeatedly pronounced unfavourable judgements. This is a cause of worry for this multi-religious nation. The present judgement came less than a year after the ‘landmark’ verdict of the Supreme Court in November last ordering the construction of Ram Mandir at the very spot of the demolished Babri Masjid without proving that the demolished mosque was in fact built atop a razed Hindu temple by the Muslim rulers.
After Babri Masjid fell victim to religious fanatics this was one of the leading editorials, “A first step would be to rebuild the destroyed Babri Masjid as a gesture towards the minority community and as a reaffirmation of an unwavering commitment to the vision of a democratic India, free of any kind of bigotry”. Our only hope of rebuilding the mosque is gone forever; its destroyers have evaded justice.
All right thinking citizens are hurt but more so the minority community. Grave injustice is done. All citizens who believe in secularism and pluralism and want to preserve the inclusive character of this country are disillusioned. Hope the wrong will be corrected via an appeal against the verdict and a fresh verdict delivers justice to this nation. The 15% of our population has every reason to be aggrieved amidst a majoritarian atmosphere.
Speaking of justice the nation is aghast by the horror in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. For the last four years UP has been in the news for shameful reasons. But the gang-rape of the Dalit girl, her murder and the hurried disposal of her body tops all crimes. The case has seen political dramas. Though protests have picked up at least initially, they are nowhere close to the outrage triggered by the Nirbhaya rape case though the cruelty of the acts were similar. Even in inflicted misfortunes, caste matters in India. At the moment the incident is still a developing story. Will there be justice for the 19 year old and her family?
Email: [email protected]