Search the Internet          Tips

UP govt seeks to exonerate
VHP in gatecrash incident

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

After having been cornered for turning a blind eye to the Ayodhya gatecrash by Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders, the Uttar Pradesh administration was trying to pass the buck to the Central Reserve Police Force, which guards the sanctum sanctorum of the makeshift Ram temple at the Babri mosque site.

A report, submitted by Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Himanshu Kumar, appeared to give a clean chit to the VHP leaders.

"No one entered the sanctum sanctorum of the makeshift temple," said the report.

Mercifully, the report admitted that the VHP bigwigs, together with some 30- 40 supporters, entered the prohibited area, which was close to the sanctum sanctorum.

Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party state chief Ram Saran Das and Congress state president Shree Prakash Jaiswal, considered the report doctored.

Interestingly, the FIR lodged after two days of the incident was also registered under non-cognisable sections of the Indian Penal Code. It talked only of "obstructing government officials in performing their duty". However, there was no mention of "criminal trespass", which appeared more than blatant in this case.

There was sufficient circumstantial evidence that VHP bigwigs had gained entry into the sanctum sanctorum of the makeshift Ram temple, only following a tacit nod by senior officials, including the divisional commissioner. The commissioner also happened to be the official receiver of the entire area, which was acquired by the Centre shortly after the demolition of the mosque on December 6, 1992.

According to sources, "Divisional commissioner Anil Kumar Gupta owes his posting in the prized office to Singhal. He was stated to have held a prolonged meeting with Singhal at VHP's official camp in Ayodhya's 'Karsewakpuram' on the night before the incident."

Ironically, before switching loyalties to Singhal, Gupta was once known to be close to BJP's sworn adversary and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

A senior SP leader said, "We have ample evidence to prove that Gupta, as well as district magistrate B P Misra, were informed about the gatecrash at around 9.30 am, but they chose to ignore the calls."

"The senior officials remained busy with preparations for Rajnath Singh's visit to Faizabad later in the day. It proves our contention that the whole thing was premeditated."

The matter was left for lower officials to handle. However, they proved to be ineffective in containing the mighty VHP bosses, who went threatened them with dire consequences.

It was only when the local CRPF officials made frantic calls that the commissioner and deputy inspector general of police arrived at the spot. By then nearly an hour-and-a-half had elapsed and the VHP bigwigs had performed the puja.

While the divisional commissioner was quick to blame the CRPF, a top police officer in Lucknow conceded that the CRPF personnel stationed at the disputed shrine in Ayodhya operated only under the command of the district police and magistrate.

It was learnt that the CRPF men had sought to lodge a FIR immediately after the incident, but the local officials restrained them from doing so. Eventually, the FIR was filed only after the intervention of Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, who took a serious note of the incident.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report