R.F.NARIMAN,J. - (1.) Leave granted. The present appeal arises out of the demolition of Babri Masjid. We are concerned in this case with two FIRs lodged on 6th December, 1992. The first viz. Crime No.197 of 1992, is against lakhs of kar sewaks alleging the offences of dacoity, robbery, causing of hurt, injuring/defiling places of public worship, promoting enmity between two groups on grounds of religion, etc. The IPC offences were, therefore, under Sections 153-A, 295, 297, 332, 337, 338, 395 and 397. The second FIR viz. FIR No.198 of 1992 was lodged against eight persons named therein - Mr. L.K. Advani, Mr. Ashok Singhal, Mr. Vinay Katiar, Ms. Uma Bharati, Ms. Sadhvi Ritambara, Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Mr. Giriraj Kishore and Mr. Vishnu Hari Dalmia, two of whom are dead due to passage of time viz. Mr. Ashok Singhal and Mr. Giriraj Kishore. The FIR alleges offences under Sections 153-A, 153-B and Section 505 IPC. 46 further FIRs pertaining to cognizable offences and 1 FIR pertaining to noncognizable offences were also lodged. Initially, a Special Court set up at Lalitpur was to try these cases but subsequently notifications were issued by the State Government, after consultation with the High Court, dated 8th September, 1993 whereby these cases were to be tried by a Special Court at Lucknow. All these cases were committed to a Court of Sessions, Lucknow in which FIR No.197, but not FIR No.198, was to be tried. It may be noted that prior to the transfer of FIR No.197 of 1992 to Lucknow, by an Order dated 13th April, 1993, the Special Magistrate added Section 120-B IPC to the said FIR No.197 of 1992.
(2.) On 5th October, 1993, the CBI filed a consolidated chargesheet against 48 persons in all including the names of Mr. Bala Saheb Thackeray, Mr. Kalyan Singh, Mr. Moreshwar Save, Mr. Champat Rai Bansal, Mr. Satish Pradhan, Mr. Mahant Avaidyanath, Mr. Dharam Das, Mr. Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mr. Mahamadleshwar Jagdish Muni, Mr. Ram Bilas Vadanti, Mr. Vaikunth Lal Sharma @ Prem, Mr. Prama Hans Ram Chandra Das, and Dr. Satish Chandra Nagar. It may be stated that owing to the passage of time, four of these are since deceased namely Mr. Bala Saheb Thackeray, Mr. Moreshwar Save, Mr. Mahant Avaidyanath and Mr. Prama Hans Ram Chandra Das. So far as the charge of conspiracy is concerned, the chargesheet records: The aforesaid acts of Shri Bala Saheb Thackeray, Chief of Shiv Sena, Bombay, Shri L.K. Advani, MP, BJP, presently BJP President, Shri Kalyan Singh, ex-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Ashok Singhal, General Secretary, VHP, Shri Vinay Katiyar, MP Bajrang Dal, Shri Moreshwar Save, MP, Shiv Sena, Shri Pawan Kumar Pandey, Ex-MLA, Shiv Sena, Shri Brij Bhushan Saran Singh, MP, BJP, Shri Jai Bhagwan Goel, North India Chief, Shiv Sena, Ms. Uma Bharati @ Gajra Singh, MP, BJP, Sadhvi Rithambara, VHP leader, Maharaj Swamy Sakshi, MP, BJP, Shri Satish Pradhan, MP, Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi, Ex4 President, BJP, Shri Giriraj Kishore, Joint General Secretary, VBP, Shri Vishnu Hari Dalmia, President, Ram Chandra Khatri, Vice President, Haryana, Shri Sudhir Kakkar, Organising Secretary, Shiv Sena, Punjab, Shri Amarnath Goel, Shiv Sena activist, Shri Santosh Dubey, Leader of Shiv Sena, Ayodhya, Shri Prakash Sharma, Joint Secretary, Bajrang Dal, Shri Jaibhan Singh Paweya, All India General Secretary, Bajrang Dal, Gwalior, Shri Ram Narayan Dass, ex-Pujari of Ram Janam Bhoomi, Shri Ramji Gupta, Supervisor Ram Janam Bhoomi Nyas, Shri Lallu Singh, ex-MLA, BJP, Shri Champat Rai, Joint Zonal Organising Secretary, VHP, Shri Om Prakash Pandey, Hindu activist, Shri Lakshmi Narayan Das, Mahatyagi, Activist, BJP, Shri Vinay Kumar Rai, Hindu activist, Shri Kamlesh Tripathi @ Sait Dubey, Bajrang Das, activist, Shri Gandhi Yadav, BJP activist, Shri Hargovind Singh, Hindu activist, Shri Vijay Bahadur Singh, Chief Security Officer, Shri Krishan Temple, Mathura, UP, Shri Navin Bahi Shukla, Hindu activist, Shri Ramesh Pratap Singh, BJP activist, and Acharya Dharmender Dev, Leader, Bajrang Dal constitutes offences U/s 120-B IPC r/w 153-A, 153-B, 295, 295- A and 505 IPC and substantive offences U/s 153-A, 153-B, 295, 295-A and 505 IPC.
(3.) On 8th October, 1993, the State Government amended the notification dated 9th September, 1993 inserting FIR No.198 of 1992 against the eight persons aforesaid so that all 49 cases could be tried by the Special Court, Lucknow. To cut a long story short, since this amendment notification did not comply with Section 11(1) proviso of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 viz. that consultation with the High Court was lacking, this notification was ultimately struck down.;