The SC bench comprising Justices PC Ghose and Rohinton Nariman adjourned the matter on Thursday asking all parties concerned to submit their arguments in writing by April 6.
The Supreme Court's decision on whether senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Uma Bharti, and Murli Manohar Joshi are liable to be charged in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition of 1992, will be taken on April 6.
The SC bench comprising Justices PC Ghose and Rohinton Nariman adjourned the matter on Thursday asking all parties concerned to submit their arguments in writing by April 6.
The apex court's observation on this issue came on the heels of an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that challenged a 2010 Allahabad High Court order which dropped conspiracy charges against the accused on technical grounds.
In its 2010 order, the Allahabad High Court had dropped conspiracy charges against the accused while upholding the lower court order.
Senior leaders who were charged by the CBI included the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, former UP Chief Minister and now Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, along with Vinay Katiyar, and Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Satish Pradhan, CR Bansal, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore (now deceased), Sadhvi Ritambhara, VH Dalmia, Mahant Avaidhynath, RV Vedanti, Paramhans Ram Chandra Das, Jagdish Muni Maharaj, BL Sharma, Nritya Gopal Das, Dharam Das, Satish Nagar, and Moreshwar Save.
While ruling that there was no merit in the CBI's revised petition challenging the May 4, 2001 order of the special court — which dropped criminal conspiracy charges against the accused — the high court had allowed the CBI to continue trial.
In 2015, a bench led by then Chief Justice HL Dattu issued a notice to Advani, Dr Joshi, Bharti, and Singh, and asked the CBI to explain why there had been a delay in the appeal against the high court order.
The bench had also recommended then that a joint trial of the accused be held to speed up the process, a position that it reiterated on Monday.
"Why is a separate trial going on in Lucknow and Rae Bareli? It must be clubbed together," the bench said.
Over two decades since the demolition of the mosque, there have been two cases that are going on — one in Lucknow and the other in Rae Bareli. One involves LK Advani and others who were on the dais at Ram Katha Kunj in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, while the other is against the lakhs of karsevaks (volunteers) who were in and around the disputed site.
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