Babri dust refuses to settle down

New Delhi: Tuesday marks the 13th anniversary of the demolition of Ayodhya's controversial Babri Masjid which was demolished on 6 December 1992 by a mob of Hindu protestors.

Security has been beefed up in and around the Ayodhya and special arrangements have been made to ensure that the functions organised by various religious bodies on the day go incident-free.

All the entry points to the temple town are being guarded and all vehicles entering the religious town are being subjected to a strict security check.

Meetings, protests and prayers by Hindu and Muslim groups have become a regular feature in Ayodhya on December 6 each year.

On 6 December 1992, a mob of Hindu protestors ? most of them being political heavyweights from BJP ? led by BJP President LK Advani, had demolished the 500-year-old structure citing that it was built on the site of a Hindu Ram Temple and hence violated the sanctity of the holy town.

And even before the dust from the destroyed 500-year-old structure begins to settle, politics of inquiries is on full throttle.

The police had lodged two FIRs against the accused, the first against the RSS volunteers or the karsevaks and the second against high-profile leaders of BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) who were actively involved in the demolition of the structure..

A number of BJP heavyweights were charged in the second FIR were LK Advani, MM Joshi, expelled leader Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, VHP heavyweights Ashok Singhal, V.H. Dalmia and RSS functionaries Sadhvi Ritambara and Acharya Giriraj Kishore.

In 1993, the case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The UP government too set up a special court in UP?s Rae Bareli.

In October the same year, the CBI filed a composite chargesheet against the 21 accused and the investigations continued for the next eight years.

But in 2001, the Rai Bareli Court barred the CBI from investigating the case, and also dropped charges against all the accused, supposedly under BJP pressure. In September 2003, the court exonerated Advani, virtually closing the case file.

So far, the case has been dragged down by lack of co-ordination between the probing agencies, which include the Justice Liberhan Commission, the Allahabad Bench, the Rae Bareli Bench, and the Luckhnow CBI Special court and the CID.

Early this year, the Allahabad High Court issued fresh notices to all 21 accused who have been exonerated due to legal loopholes.

The Liberhan panel's yet to submit its report. Even after 13 years, two investigating agencies, three High Courts and tonnes of files have not been able to nail a single person for the Babri act.