The Court is conducting daily procedures to conclude the trial by August 31. (FOLDER)
Lucknow:
The head of the BJP, Uma Bharti, is among the accused who were invited to appear in person Thursday before a special court to hear the demolition of Babri Masjid.
BJP veterans’ lawyers, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalyan Singh, told the CBI court on Wednesday that they preferred to appear in court by videoconference.
Special Judge S K Yadav had recently granted this possibility to the accused who had not yet recorded their statements, asking them to provide their addresses so that arrangements can be made for videoconferencing.
The court is in the process of recording the statements of the 32 accused under section 313 of the CPC, a stage in the trial following the end of the examination of witnesses for the prosecution.
BJP deputy Sakshi Maharaj appeared in court on Wednesday, categorically denying having conspired in the demolition of the Ayodhya mosque.
The court issued an inadmissible warrant against an accused Om Prakash Pandey after his lawyer informed him that the whereabouts of the resident of Azamgarh were unknown to him.
Advani’s lawyers, M M Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Jai Bhagwan Goel, Amar Nath Goel, Sudhir Kakkad, Acharya Dharmendra Dev, Dharmendra Singh Gujjar and R N Srivastava communicated their addresses to the court.
Justice Yadav said the other accused appeared to want to appear in person.
“As a result, defendants who have not released their addresses and who have yet to appear in court for recording their statement are invited to appear before him on June 18,” said the judge.
The judge said he would continue to record the statements of the remaining accused until the National Computer Center made arrangements for the videoconference.
The court conducts daily procedures to conclude the trial no later than August 31, in accordance with instructions from the Supreme Court.
Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992 by “kar sevaks” who claimed that the mosque was built on the site of an ancient Ram temple.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
