Furnish address details or will pass appropriate orders, CBI court to Babri case accused

The court said the exemption from personal appearance was subjected to the 'aforesaid condition' that the accused will furnish their address details by Wednesday. 

Special Judge S K Yadav said this while expressing concern over the fact that former deputy prime minister L K Advani, ex-UP CM Kalyan Singh, BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, and other accused left to be examined have not placed the details before it despite orders. 

The court order came as no accused appeared before it on Tuesday for recording their statement. The court has been conducting day-to-day proceedings in order to conclude the trial by August 31, as directed by the Supreme Court.

The court cautioned their lawyers against an "appropriate order" if the details were not furnished by June 17. The court, however, clarified that except Advani, Joshi and Uma Bharti, if other accused wanted, they can appear in person on June 17 for recording their statements.

The court said it had on June 10 sought their address details so that these could be forwarded to the National Informatics Centre for making arrangements of a video conference at their places to record their statements. 

"Till date, addresses of only accused Pawan Kumar Pandey and Satish Kumar Pradhan have been placed by their lawyer Manish Kumar Tripathi and other counsels have not filed details of the rest of the accused," said the special judge. 

The court is at present engaged in recording statements of accused under section 313 of the CrPC, a stage in the trial which follows the completion of examination of prosecution witnesses. The Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992 by "kar sevaks" who claimed that the mosque in Ayodhya was built on the site of an ancient Ram temple.