Lucknow: Kalyan Singh, who was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when Hindu zealots demolished the Babri mosque on December 6, 1992, has indicated that he will not appear before a commission that is probing the circumstances leading up to the event.

Justice M S Liberhan, who heads the commission, had, on Thursday issued a warrant demanding Kalyan Singh's appearance on August 18. The warrant was issued after Singh disregarded an earlier summons to appear before the commission.

Justice Liberhan took a "serious view" of Singh's non-appearance. "It is evident from earlier proceedings and would be reasonable to irresistibly come to a conclusion that the attempt is calculated to defeat the very purpose for which the commission has been set up," he said.

Justice Liberhan pointed out that senior Uttar Pradesh government officials, as also Prabhat Kumar, the present cabinet secretary, who was the home secretary of the state at the time of the demolition, had already deposed before the commission.

"The absence and non-cooperation of Kalyan Singh becomes all the more obvious in this context," Justice Liberhan said.

"Why should this warrant business bother me? I will give a formal reply to the warrant within the stipulated period of 10 days after consulting my legal counsel," Singh told IANS.

"I will see whether the Liberhan Commission can bind me to appear," Singh said. Asked if he would depose if the commission's order was binding, he said, "Well, in that case I will still think what legal course to take."

Singh is among the 49 persons who have been chargesheeted in a separate case relating to the demolition that is being heard by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court. Union Home Minister L K Advani, Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and former Central minister Uma Bharati have also been charged in this case.

Singh maintains that the commission is duplicating what the special CBI court is already doing. "Since the CBI court is already in the process of framing charges in the case, my statement before the Liberhan Commission may prove to be pointless," he said.

Asked why he was avoiding an appearance before the Liberhan Commission, which had summoned him several times in the past as well, Singh said that the Allahabad High Court had "stayed the operation of the legal provisions under which I had been earlier summoned by the commission".

"There is plenty of time for me to think and take a decision as the commission has fixed the next hearing on August 18 while the CBI court would take up the framing of charges on September 15," Singh said.

India Abroad News Service

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