LUCKNOW, November 21: Framing of charges against those accused in the Babri Masjid case, including top leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, was deferred once again by the special session judge (Ayodhya episode) as 44 of the total 49 accused failed to appear in the court today.

The judge fixed December 10 as the next date after only five accused, including Shiv Sena leader Moreshwar Save and retired IAS officer R N Srivastava, appeared in person before the court.

The court also served a warning to the accused to ensure their personal appearance on the next date failing which legal action would be taken against them.

The plea for adjournment of framing of charges by the counsel of the absenting accused was however opposed by the Central Bureau of Investigation on the contention that the accused should not be allowed to hold the court to ransom.

The counsel of the BJP informed the court that top party leaders L K Advani and M M Joshi were held up in Delhi due to the current political developments while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh was out of town.The Shiv Sena counsel said Bal Thackeray could not appear as he was indisposed and had promised to ``definitely'' appear on the the next date of hearing.

The framing of charges was earlier postponed on October 17 on the same ground, as only 34 of the accused were present in the court that day.Earlier on September 9, special additional session judge had ruled that there were prima facie charges aginst the accused and had fixed October 17 for framing of charges.

The special ayodhya court has fixed charges against Advani, Joshi, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Uma Bharti, Mahant Niritya Gopaldas, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar and Vijaye Raje Scindhia, among others under Section 147 (rioting), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race), 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief). Today was the third time the court extended the date for formal handing over of charges, to facilitate trial in the case.

Kalyan Singh, the then Faizabad district magistrate Ravindra Nath Srivastava (now a BJP member) and the then police chief D B Roy (now BJP M P) were also charged under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to the court for screening of offenders).

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.