CBI to record the statements of Babri Masjid Demolition accused via Video Conferencing

After the Supreme court ordered completion of trial in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case by August 31, the CBI court here is set to pace up the day to day hearing and even record the statements of the accused through video conferencing.

The special CBI court of Judge S K Yadav has been hearing the case for over a decade but it remains inconclusive as the accused are yet to appear before the court to record their statements.

Following the Top Court's strict direction, the court will speed up its effort to record the statement of 33 accused, including former Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani, former UP CM Kalyan Singh and other senior BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati and others.

Earlier, the special court (Ayodhya matter) was asked by the Apex Court to complete the trial by April 18 but due to lockdown, the judge had sought an extension. On the plea of the special judge, the court had extended the time frame to complete the trial by August 31 on Friday.

The trial court, going for day to day hearing before the lockdown, had completed the recording of the statement of the 294th witness M Narayanan in the first week of March last.

Mr Narayanan is the last witness on behalf of the CBI in the case, which was lodged by the Ramjanmabhoomi police station SHO and Ramjanmabhoomi chowki in charge on December 6,1992.

The court will now have to record the statements of the accused under section 313 of the CrPC, if required through video conferencing. A total of 48 FIRs were registered in connection with the demolition in which CB-CID investigated the matter and then it was handed over to the CBI. Later, on May 31,2017, the CBI filed chargesheet against 49 accused in which 16 of them have died.

The judgement of the court is expected in the late 2020 as the Supreme Court had, last year, directed the special judge to deliver its judgement in nine months time, but it has been delayed.