#AyodhyaVerdict- Ahh! It was Act of God, 'Right'?

The CBI special court’s judgment last week acquitting all the 32 persons accused of demolishing the Babri Masjid in 1992 concluded that the mosque was demolished by anti-social/anti-national elements and that not only was there no evidence that BJP/VHP/RSS leaders including Lal Krishna Advani were part of any conspiracy but that the accused were actually trying to prevent these anti-socials from committing their criminal act.

 

"Nothing was done in the disputed premises which could have hurt the religious sentiments of the other community or which could have in any manner adversely affected the unity and integrity of the nation. Muslims of Ayodhya were not perturbed by the ‘kar seva’, there was no sense of excitement (or fear) in them. They were indifferent to it. Since it is on record that a Hindu woman saved a Muslim man, one can safely conclude that there was perfect communal amity in Ayodhya", the judgement read announcing several gems of judicial wisdom in the case.

 

 

The demolition of the Babri Masjid was an egregious violation of the rule of law, if we believe the Supreme Court. “Earlier, in April 2017″, as the Indian Express editorial reminded us, the SC had reversed the judgments of the lower courts to revive the conspiracy charges against LK Advani and others, while clubbing the cases so that the demolition and the speeches made by leaders could be seen as part of the same action.” The newspaper is disappointed that, “Now, at the end of a tortuous legal process that has stretched over nearly three decades, the court holds no one accountable or punishable, as it shifts the entire blame to the faceless kar sevak…”

 

Also, there are demands from such left leaning newspapers, legal luminaries and others that the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the government need to appeal the order of the special CBI court. Is there any reason to have hope there? If the preceding years and judgments are any indication, the answer is no. Meanwhile, it should be a matter of disquiet for the judge to know that just after his verdict absolving all the accused of the charge of conspiracy, at least two of the 32 accused – Gajanand Das and Jai Bhagwan Goel – boasted on camera that they had indeed conspired to bring about the demolition and were proud to say so as it was the mosque’s demolition in 1992 which cleared the way for the Ram temple to finally be built. What should we believe? That the two men are loudmouths and that there is no proof to establish that they had plotted the demolition? Or that the court erred in acquitting them and the others?

 

Leaving that aside, there are also questions the BJP and RSS supporters need to ask their leaders. Do they believe that the demolition was a crime? Do they agree that those who demolished the mosque were anti-social, anti-national elements? In any case, if the demolition was a criminal act and those who demolished the mosque were anti-socials, what is there to celebrate in the judgments of the Supreme Court and the Lucknow court? Are we applauding crime and criminals?

 

The Lucknow court’s order could not have come without the nudge that the judgment of the Supreme Court gave by granting the land of the Babri Mosque to litigants who were organically linked to those accused of the demolition. The government promptly made two of the prime accused – Nritya Gopal Das and Champat Rai – head and secretary of the trust to oversee the new temple. Even before that was the judgment of the Supreme Court which declared Hindutva (and not Hinduism) to be a way of life. It validated the stand of the RSS, BJP and others that what they were doing was not petty politics but sublime duty.

 

The CBI court has only followed the precedent set by these superior courts. One must remember that it was a court’s decision which led to the unlocking of the mosque. Gradually courts paved the way for the demolition of the mosque by allowing ‘kar seva’ around the mosque knowing full well that the goal of the those wanting kar seva was to replace the mosque with a temple, appropriation of its land to build a temple and now making the crime look crimeless, an act of God. A time will come and it must if India has to revive itself as a decent society, when the complicity of the judiciary in the gradual decimation of secularism and disenfranchisement of the Muslims would be written. The courts had immunity from the executive but they decided to turn majoritarian.

 

(With social media inputs from Apoorvanand)