The Hindu : CBI has not dropped charges in Ayodhya case: Jaitley

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Tuesday, Jul 22, 2003

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CBI has not dropped charges in Ayodhya case: Jaitley

By Our New Delhi Bureau

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Somnath Chatterjee (CPI-M), Priyaranjan Dasmunshi (Cong.), Yerran Naidu (TDP) and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, arriving to attend the monsoon session of Parliament on Monday. — Photos: Anu Puskharna

NEW DELHI JULY 21. The tabling of an adjournment motion by the Opposition alleging that the Central Bureau of Investigation had "dropped" the charges of conspiracy to demolish the Babri Masjid against the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and some others led to stormy scenes in the Lok Sabha which adjourned without transacting any business on Monday, first day of the monsoon session.

After noisy scenes, shouting of slogans "Prime Minister jawab den" (the Prime Minister should give an answer), demands by the Opposition for the resignations of Mr. Advani and the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, and the moving into the well of the House by the members, the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after the Speaker, Manohar Joshi, rejected the demand for suspension of question hour.

Trouble began immediately after Mr. Joshi made some obituary references to former MPs. Priyaranjan Dasmunshi (Congress), Ramjilal Suman (Samajwadi Party), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (Rashtriya Janata Dal), G.M. Banatwala (IUML) and others charged that the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, had pressured the CBI into dropping the conspiracy charges against Mr. Advani, Dr. Joshi and other Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders in the case being heard in the Rae Bareilly court.

The Speaker rejected the Opposition demand and quoted from a "letter" from the Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, which stated that the subject matter was sub judice. Besides, "the CBI has not diluted any case, dropped any charge against the accused person. Section 120 B (relating to conspiracy) was never a charge in the Rae Bareilly chargesheet, the question of dropping it does not arise". Mr. Joshi added: "Since the matter has not been dropped by the Government, the information with the (Opposition) members is not correct. Therefore, I do not agree to suspend the question hour." He then offered to take up the adjournment motion but to no avail. The turmoil forced the first adjournment, and, even after confabulations in the Speaker's chamber, the Opposition was unrelenting. The House met again only to adjourn for the day.

Addressing the press later, Mr. Jaitley said "the entire premise that the CBI has diluted or dropped charges against Mr. Advani and others is factually incorrect... there has been no interference by the Centre, no dropping of charges by the CBI". The Congress had "withdrawn a record number of cases against its leaders in 1980", but the Vajpayee Government had not interfered in any way in the Babri demolition case.

In the Rae Bareilly court, "it was for the judge to accept, add to or delete charges made out by the CBI, it was for the court to decide not Parliament... it would be unprecedented if parallel arguments on what charges should be framed are made in Parliament. That would negate the rule of law," Mr. Jaitley added. And his party colleague, V.K. Malhotra, suggested that an adjournment motion on wrong facts "could become a privilege issue".

The Congress spokesperson, S. Jaipal Reddy, said the CBI filed two chargesheets on October 5, 1993, and January 11, 1996. Both, one including the charge of conspiracy, were considered together by the special court in Lucknow and "neither the High Court of Allahabad nor any other court had quashed the chargesheets".

Those charges were based not just on FIRs, but on "investigations by the CBI and they cannot be wished away". Now, however, the "CBI has chosen to turn a blind eye to its own charges" and had been "reduced to a pliable political tool".

Mr. Reddy said: "The Prime Minister was responsible and he must give a credible answer to Parliament and to the nation." Both Mr. Advani and Dr Joshi "must go".

He accused Mr. Jaitley of "obfuscating" the issue and wearing several hats: "He is Law Minister, judge, advocate, prosecutor and BJP spokesperson."

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