M A I N   N E W S

Nehru’s telegram sought by High Court missing
Babri masjid title case
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service

Lucknow, June 5
A furious telegram reportedly sent by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ordering the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Govind Ballabh Pant, to undo the damage caused by the mysterious planting of idols in the Babri mosque on the night of December 23, 1949, traceless.

This vital document was among the seven documents sought by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court from the state government on the petition of the Sunni Central Board of Waqf and others and Gopal Singh Visharad and others usually referred to as the title suit in the Babri Masjid case. The high court in its order on July 11, 2002, had directed the state government to file these documents.

Besides the telegram or telex message of Pandit Nehru to the Uttar Pradesh Government for the removal of the idols from the Babri mosque, received by the Uttar Pradesh Government in December 1949 or January 1950, there are six more documents that have been sought as evidence.

They are: (1) a copy of letter dated July 20, 1949, sent by the Uttar Pradesh Government to the District Magistrate of Faizabad; (2) A copy of letter of September 3, 1949, sent by the Deputy Secretary to the Uttar Pradesh Government to the District Magistrate, Faizabad; (3) Office copy of letter dated July 20, 1949, sent by the Uttar Pradesh Government to the Commissioner, Faizabad; (4) Office copy of letter dated September 3, 1949, sent by the Deputy Secretary to the Uttar Pradesh Government to the Commissioner of Faizabad; (5) Letter of December 26, 1949, from Deputy Commissioner to the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh; (6) Letter of December 27, 1949, in continuation to DO dated December 26, 1949, from Deputy Commissioner, Faizabad, to the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh.

On May 5, 2005, the court of Justice S.R. Alam, Justice Khemka and Justice Bhanwar Singh had noted, “It is shocking that despite time having been granted the state government did not care to furnish the documents and even the affidavit filed after several adjournments is cryptic and doesn’t disclose as to when letters were sent to the departments concerned to provide information regarding the existence of the documents sought for and what was the response thereto. It appears that the authorities concerned did not give proper attention to our earlier orders and thus due to their indifference and callous attitude the disposal of the application is being delayed”.

After the stern strictures, the Home Department went into a frenzy. The 125-page supplementary affidavit filed in the high court on behalf of the state of Uttar Pradesh on May 25, 2005, declares that the District Magistrate, Faizabad, has already produced two documents (No. 5 & 6) listed above.

The detailed document provides exhaustive information on the action the state government has taken. It goes to great pains to explain the number of letters sent to the various departments, including the General Administration Department, the Directorate of Cultural Affairs, the State Archives and other departments, including the Intelligence Bureau to furnish records.

Responding to this, Mr Jilani declares that the remaining five documents are bound to be in the file from where the earlier two documents have been recovered. “Unless some one deliberately tampers with them with malicious intent it is just not possible that such historical documents can vanish in thin air” asserts Mr Jilani.

There are well-kept records of the movement of each and every file so it is difficult to believe that the government cannot trace it or even disclose where it was last sent, points out Mr Jilani. Broadly hinting at the role of the BJP government in the disappearance of these documents, Mr Jilani said these documents were very much available till 1992 and had not been seen located after that.

Dismissing the charges of the BJP’s connivance in the disappearance of the documents, party’s former state BJP President Vinay Katiyar in his innate style wondered why some people are so bothered about so-called lost documents when the whole structure they are referring to has vanished? “Every single brick of that structure is lost, so what to talk of a few documents”, he remarked.