LK Advani, Uma Bharti, MM Joshi, 29 others acquitted in Babri demolition case

All 32 accused, including BJP veterans LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh,  were acquitted by a CBI court on Wednesday in the 28-year-old Babri masjid demolition case, reports ANI,  bringing to closure the decades old court battle. The title suit has already been settled by the Supreme Court in November.

 “There is no conclusive proof against the accused”, said Special CBI Judge Surendra Kumar Yadav, according to PTI, about the incident that forever changed the public and political discourse of India. 

Judge Surendra Kumar Yadav’s term was extended, on SC orders,  by over a year to allow him to reach a verdict and on wednesday he presented a 2000-page order. Though the case lost steam after the Supreme Court, in November 2019, allowed the construction of Ram temple at the disputed site and a mosque a little distance away, the interest in the verdict was mainly due to the high-profile names involved.

Also read: CBI’s special court delivers verdict in Babri demolition case – A timeline of events

All the 32 accused faced charges under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, rioting , promoting enmity between different groups and unlawful assembly. LK Advani, MM Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Satish Pradhan and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das attended the proceedings via video conferencing, reports ANI. Twenty-six others, including Sadhvi Ritambhara, Sakshi Maharaj, Champat Rai Bansal and Pawan Pandey were present in court, reports PTI.

On December 6, 1992 thousands of Kar sevaks gathered at the site, which has now been handed over by the Supreme Court to the Hindus for the constuction of a temple, and within hours the structure was razed to the ground, triggering riots across the country.

Advani, Joshi and Uma Bharti were on the dais near the mosque at the time of the demolition. The investigating agencies said they instigated the crowd with their speeches. Kalyan Singh was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh at the time of the demolition. His government was dismissed the same evening.

The CBI had filed a chargesheet against 49 people in the case, of whom 17 died during trial. The court recorded statements of 351 prosecution witnesses. Among the accused who passed away pending trial are Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray, BJP’s Vijayaraje Scindia, VHP’s Ashok Singhal and ex-MP Mahant Awaidyanath.

A high alert was sounded across Uttar Pradesh ahead of the verdict. Policemen stood guard in Ayodhya and around 2,000 cops were deployed at the building that houses the court in Lucknow’s Kaiserbagh.