SC to court: Expedite Babri case

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the CBI for the absence of its counsel for arguments in the agency’s plea seeking that senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi, Uma Bharti and 17 other people be tried for criminal conspiracy in the Babri Masjid demolition case of Ayodhya. “This case was adjourned last time to accommodate the CBI. Once again today, you are not present. It appears you are not interested to argue the matter,” the court said and adjourned the case for eight weeks. The bench said ASG A.S. Chandiok, who failed to appear before it to argue the case for the CBI, was taking the court “casually”. Meanwhile, the bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Prasad directed a trial court in Rae Bareily to expeditiously hear the Babri Masjid demolition case against 20 people, including Mr Advani, against whom the charges of criminal conspiracy were earlier dropped. Besides Mr Advani, the others against whom the CBI wants the charges of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B IPC restored are — Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Satish Pradhan, C.R. Bansal, M.M. Joshi, Vinay Katiyar, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kish-ore, Sadhvi Ritam-bhara, V.H. Dalmia, Mahant Avaidhy-nath, R.V. Vedanti, Param Hans Ram Chandra Das, Jagdish Muni Maharaj, B.L. Sharma, Nritya Gopal Das and Dharam Das.

*** Anna: will not vote for aam aadmi party Age Correspondent New Delhi, Dec. 6

Gandhian activist Anna Hazare on Thursday claimed that they parted ways due to Arvind Kejriwal’s fascination for power. The Gandhian activist also accused Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for going the same way as others by taking the path of “money through power” and vice versa. He made it clear that he would not vote for AAP in elections. Mr Hazare’s assertions were in clear contrast to Mr Kejriwal’s claim on the day of naming his political party, that the Gandhian activist had blessed him. In a scathing attack on Mr Kejriwal, Mr Hazare also agreed that the AAP leader was “greedy” for power. During an interaction organised by a TV channel, Mr Hazare made his displeasure clear by stating that “it is being seen that AAP is moving towards the path of money through power and power through money”. “Though I had earlier stated that I would vote for AAP, I will not be anywhere near them now,” said Mr Hazare when he was asked if he would vote for Mr Kejriwal’s party.