Stay on appearance of Ayodhya accused leaders vacated

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday dismissed a review petition security stay on the appearance of leaders in the special Central Bureau of Investigation court in connection with the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6,1992.

In his petition, Moreshwar Save, a Shiv Sena leader, had appealed for review, pleading that the court order was full of shortcomings.

In his petition, he said devotees of Lord Ram had gathered from all over India and abroad on December 6, 1992 for the kar seva at Ayodhya. The Supreme Court, the central government and the state government had allowed the kar seva to go ahead and the disputed structure was demolished by the crowd, he contended.

The CBI special court in its order of September 9 had directed 49 people including Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishinchand Advani, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad president Ashok Singhal, to appear in the court on October 17.

Now that the review petition has been dismissed by the Lucknow bench, these leaders will be expected to be present in court on Friday.