Police officers acted like volunteers

New Delhi: Severely indicting the Uttar Pradesh administration under then chief minister Kalyan Singh for being "a willing ally and co-conspirator" in the razing of the Babri Masjid, retired high court justice M.S. Liberhan in his report said the demolition was carried out with "military precision".

The report of the Liberhan Commission, which was tabled in parliament yesterday, blamed senior police officials for toeing the line and acting as "uniformed kar sevaks (supporters) rather than protectors" in allowing the demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid.

"... December 6, 1992 saw a state of Uttar Pradesh unwilling and unable to uphold the majesty of the law. The ennui flowed from the very office of the chief minister downwards and infected the state's minions down till the bottom.

"The state had become a willing ally and co-conspirator in the joint common enterprise to announce the revival of a rabid breed of Hindutva, by demolishing the structure they had denounced as a symbol of Islam," said the 1,029-page report.

It blamed the then chief minister Kalyan Singh for focusing on assuming power by replacing the administrative and police officers who were "inclined to resist a change".