SC affirms Liberhan Commission conclusion in Ayodhya judgment

Nov 11, 2019
New Delhi: The Justice Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry had concluded the demolition of the Babri Masjid was a planned attack, carried out by a specialised team of RSS cadre, which has been affirmed by the Supreme Court, which in the recent Ayodhya title dispute judgment, termed it as a “calculated act.

The then P.V. Narasimha Rao government, within 10 days of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992, set up a commission of inquiry headed by Justice M.S. Liberhan, who was then a sitting judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court. The commission had concluded: “It would be unsatisfactory to attribute these attacks (on the Masjid) to the average Karsevaks. These were pre-planned attacks and had been demonstrably assigned to a ‘specialised’ team of RSS cadre and coordinated and guided by the effective leadership at the spot.”

The five-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, in its unanimous judgement on November 9, said the exclusion of Muslims from worship and possession took place on the intervening night between December 22/23, 1949 when the mosque was desecrated by the installation of Hindu idols. And later, their place for worship was destroyed in “calculated act” during the pendency of the law suits, it observed.

The planning of the attack was dealt in detail by the report which said: “Without the BJP’s Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and his cabinet colleagues or the icons of the movement or of the BJP, the Ayodhya campaign could not have succeeded at all…..Kalyan Singh lived up to the expectations of the Parivar.” The commission had submitted the report in June 2009, during the tenure of Manmohan Singh government.

The inquiry commission pinned the systematic planning, of the demolition of the mosque, on Singh, “the chief minister and his cabinet were the proverbial insiders who caused the collapse of the entire system…….the police and administrators were the executors of the designs of the RSS, VHP, BJP, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena etc.,”

The Liberhan Commission concluded the Kar Sevaks attacked the media personnel at the same time as the commencement of the assault on the disputed structure. “The intent and effect of these attacks thus become crystal clear,” said the inquiry report.

The apex court also termed the conspiracy to deprive Muslims of their place of worship a calculated act. “The ouster of the Muslims on that occasion was not through any lawful authority but through an act which was calculated to deprive them of their place of worship,” said the Ayodhya judgement.

The apex court also held the Sunni Waqf Board lawsuit is maintainable whereas one of the Allahabad High Court judges, in their 2010 judgment, held the board suit is not maintainable as a result of the demolition of the disputed structure. IANS