Justice Liberhan, whose inquiry found Babri demolition was pre-planned, dies

Former Chief Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, who led the landmark inquiry into the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, died on Sunday. He was 87. His 17-year-long probe concluded the demolition was "meticulously planned", a finding he continued to defend even after the accused were acquitted in 2020.

Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan, the former Chief Justice of the Madras and Andhra Pradesh High Courts who headed the Liberhan Commission that investigated the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, died on Sunday at the age of 87, news agency PTI reported.

According to PTI, Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association President Rohit Sud announced Justice Liberhan's death in Chandigarh on Sunday. His cremation was held on Monday.

A veteran jurist, Justice Liberhan led the longest-running commission of inquiry into the demolition of the Babri Masjid by a crowd of kar sevaks on December 6, 1992. In its report, the Liberhan Commission described the demolition as a "meticulously planned" act and said BJP leader Uma Bharti had "categorically" taken responsibility for the incident.

MS LIBERHAN: FROM CHANDIGARH TO AYODHYA

MS Liberhan began his legal career at the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 1964 and was elected to the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council in 1970, later serving as its secretary from 1976 to 1983.

He went on to serve as Additional Advocate General of Haryana before being appointed Advocate General of the state in August 1986. In February 1987, he was elevated as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Liberhan was appointed Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in July 1997 and later became Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in February 1998, a position he held until his retirement in 2000.

However, what truly cemented his place in the public consciousness was his appointment by the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao-led government to investigate the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya.

JUSTICE LIBERHAN LED THE ONE-MAN LIBERHAN COMMISSION, CALLED BABRI DEMOLITION PRE-PLANNED

Ten days after the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, the P V Narasimha Rao government appointed Justice Liberhan, then serving as Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to head a one-man Commission of Inquiry into the demolition.

The probe, which was initially supposed to last no more than three months, ended up stretching over 17 years, received 48 extensions, held at least 315 sittings, and examined around 100 witnesses.

In its final report, submitted to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 30, 2009, the Liberhan Commission reconstructed the events of December 6, 1992. It said more than 1.5 lakh kar sevaks had gathered in Ayodhya under the leadership of senior BJP leaders, including LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.

According to the report, as the day progressed, a mob of around 5,000 kar sevaks overwhelmed the police and security forces, scaled the Babri Masjid, and demolished the structure using hammers, pickaxes, shovels and crowbars.

LIBERHAN COMMISSION BLAMED BJP LEADERS FOR BABRI DEMOLITION

More importantly, the Liberhan Commission squarely laid the blame for the demolition on senior BJP leaders, including Uma Bharti, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh. The report described that the mobilisation of kar sevaks in Ayodhya was neither "spontaneous nor voluntary" but "orchestrated and planned."

Although the Liberhan Commission recommended further investigation into those it indicted, the CBI later concluded that the report contained no fresh evidence warranting new charges, and no additional cases were registered on the basis of its findings. The criminal trial continued on the basis of the 1993 CBI charge sheet, which had already named leaders such as LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Ashok Singhal and others on charges including criminal conspiracy and promoting enmity.

In September 2020, a Special CBI court in Lucknow acquitted all 32 surviving accused, ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove a pre-planned conspiracy beyond reasonable doubt.

Justice Liberhan, however, stood by his findings. After the Special CBI court acquitted all the accused in 2020, he told The Indian Express that the Babri Masjid demolition was a "meticulously planned" act and that BJP leader Uma Bharti had "categorically" taken responsibility for it.

"For posterity, it is a report that will provide an honest account of what took place and how. It will be part of history," he told The Indian Express.

Following his retirement and the submission of the Liberhan Commission report in 2009, Justice Liberhan largely stayed away from public life, speaking only occasionally about the findings of the inquiry that carried his name. He will be remembered for leading one of independent India's longest-running and most consequential commissions of inquiry.

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