Date:20/06/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/06/20/stories/2003062004051300.htm

National

Lack of enough forces led to masjid demolition: Centre

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI June 19. The Centre today told the Liberhan Commission that "lack of enough security forces" might have been the reason for the demolition of the Babri masjid by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992 and blamed the Kalyan Singh Government for not deploying adequate paramilitary forces to protect the disputed structure.

Appearing for the Centre, senior counsel, Lala Ram Gupta, assisted by Bhupender Yadav, maintained that the Union Government's duty was only to send the forces and how to deploy them was left to the State Government.

To a question from the Commission whether the Centre had any "contingency plan" to meet any eventuality, counsel said that no such plan was formulated either by the Centre or by the State to prevent kar sevaks from reaching or climbing the structure.

When the Commission pointed out that the then Union Home Secretary, Madhav Godbole, had prepared a contingency plan on imposition of President's rule in the State, counsel said "there was no contingency plan for the security of the structure''.

Mr. Gupta conceded that both the State and the Central failed in their constitutional duty to protect the disputed structure.

He also told the Commission that it could not probe the "conspiracy angle" to the demolition as it was not part of the term of reference. But, the Commission wondered how it would be possible to conduct investigation without touching on the conspiracy aspect. However, counsel asserted that demolition structure was sudden and there was no conspiracy in that. Also, it was not part of the Commission's role to probe the conspiracy angle as it was a fact-finding body and not an investigating agency.