When the Allahabad High Court today ruled against L K Advani, one point it made was that the magistrate, while discharging the BJP president, had either disregarded or misinterpreted the evidence.That evidence, as The Indian Express first reported two years ago, hinges on the testimony of Anju Gupta, an IPS officer, who was in charge of Advani’s security on December 6, 1992.Her testimony was the most damning against Advani, the magistrate called it ‘‘ati mahatwapoorna’’ (crucially important). And yet, it was used to let off Advani.Consider these:• Accusing him of inciting kar sevaks from the dais, Gupta said: ‘‘No sooner had Advani arrived than the situation became tense.it worsened as he spoke.’’• Alleging that Advani himself took part in the celebrations that went on over the demolition, she said: ‘‘When the first, second and third domes fell, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara hugged each other and distributed sweets.(They) expressed happiness by hugging Advani, Joshi and S C Dixit. After the domes fell, they congratulated each other.’’The magistrate selectively quoted from Gupta’s testimony to argue that the case against Advani was based on ‘‘keval sandeh’’ (mere suspicion) and not ‘‘ghor sandeh’’ (grave suspicion).’’This is how:• Anju Gupta: ‘‘I saw some boys near Kuber Tola carrying different implements and moving towards the structure. Then Advani asked me what was happening inside the mosque.’’The magistrate uses this to conclude that ‘‘Advani was unaware of the demolition.at the time it started.’’But Gupta said in the same statement that Advani was trying to find out what was happening ‘‘inside’’ the structure as the demolition from the top was anyway visible from the dais where the leaders were sitting.• ‘‘I want to go to the site and ask people to come down,’’ Advani said so to Gupta, as recorded in her statement. The magistrate says that this ‘‘gives rise to a second view’’ on Advani’s conduct.• Gupta, who was on the dais with Advani, said that he appealed to kar sevaks to come down from the domes only after he learnt from her that the mosque was being demolished from below and that those on top were falling down and getting injured.
