NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court judge today recused himself without citing any reason from hearing appeals in connection with dropping of criminal conspiracy charge against senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others pertaining to the December 6, 1992, Babri Masjid demolition case.
Justice V Gopala Gowda, who was heading the division bench of the Apex Court along with Justice Arun Mishra, recused himself from the hearing the case without citing any reason.
While recusing from the case, Justice Gowda said, “Let the matter be placed before the Chief Justice,” for its allocation to some other bench.
The CBI, which is the probe agency in the Babri Masjid demolition case, had earlier dropped the criminal conspiracy charges against Mr Advani, Prof Joshi and 16 others in connection with the demolition of the disputed medieval structure in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on December 6, 1992.
Challenging the CBI’s move, one Haji Mahboob Ahmad had approached the Apex Court filing an appeal to invoke the criminal conspiracy charge against all the leaders who were allegedly involved in the demolition case.
Ahmad had sought setting aside of the Allahabad High Court’s order of May 20, 2010, which had dropped section 120-B (Criminal conspiracy) under the IPC while upholding a special court’s decision.
In September last year, the CBI had told the apex court that it had decided to drop the criminal conspiracy charge unbiasedly and not influenced by anyone.
The dropping of criminal conspiracy charge against senior BJP leaders in the case was not at any instance, it had said. “The decision-making process of the CBI is completely independent.
All decisions are taken based on correct facts in the light of the extant law. There is no question of any person, body or institution influencing the decision-making process of CBI or the manner in which it pursues its cases in courts,” the agency had said in its affidavit. (AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
