The old High Court building of Kaiserbagh in Lucknow was buzzing with activity because of the Babri Masjid case verdict today.
The court today delivered the much-awaited judgement in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case in which BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were among the accused. The other accused included union minister Uma Bharati, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, Vinay Katiyar. LK Advani and MM Joshi along with Uma Bharti were not present in the court and were connected via video link.
The demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, was not planned according to the judge in Uttar Pradesh, acquitting all 32 accused. Special CBI Judge SK Yadav said, “ The accused tried to stop the demolition ”.
As judge SK Yadav begins reading out the brief of the case observes the shreds of evidence against the accused are not strong enough and Babri Mosque demolition incident was not preplanned. The court also added a few more points like the video provided by CBI cannot prove the authenticity of audio and the audio of the speech is also not clear.
This is an erroneous judgement as it is against evidence and against the law
Zafaryab Jilani, A Lawyer For The All India Muslim Personal Law Board
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Rawat welcomes the verdict and says the decision was awaited for the last 28 years. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the entire party welcomed the judgement as it was on expected lines. We should forget the incident now if Babri wouldn’t have been pulled down we wouldn’t have been able to see Bhoomi Poojan of Ram Mandir. I congratulate all the leaders were present there and who were involved in the protest says Raut.
While Leader of Communist Party of India and senior politician Sitaram Yechury criticised the judgement and considered it as “complete travesty of justice”.
A complete travesty of Justice.
All charged with criminal conspiracy to demolish Babri Masjid acquitted.
It self imploded?
The Constitution Bench headed by then CJI had said that demolition was an “egregious” violation of law.
Now this verdict!
Shame.https://t.co/fAeTHwhhDg— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) September 30, 2020
If accused would have got convicted these saffron veterans Advani, Joshi, Bharti and others would’ve faced maximum imprisonment up to 5 years. There were mixed reactions on social media on the judgement.
https://twitter.com/ashoswai/status/1311204830287933440
The first big-armed assault on Babri Masjid was reported on October 19, 1990, of kar sevaks led by VHP, stormed the mosque. On December 6, 1992, Babri Masjid got demolished and 2 FIRs were filed in Faizabad one against lakhs of Kar Sevaks and another against 49 functionaries of Sangh Parivar including Advani, Joshi, Bal Thackeray, Uma Bharti and others.
More than 500 people were counted dead within three days of the demolition of Babri Masjid. After the demolition senior BJP leaders, LK Advani and MM Joshi were arrested from the spot. The party leaders were accused of making inflammatory speeches that incited followers ahead of the attack.
The verdict today follows a ruling by India’s Supreme Court settling the land dispute over the site allowing construction of Ram temple last year. The pioneering function from the temple was held on 5 August 2020 in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
