New Delhi: A special court today acquitted all accused in the Babri mosque demolition case.
Nearly twenty-eight years after the Babri Masjid was demolished, the Special CBI court today acquitted all 32 accused in the case, including former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti.
The accused were acquitted citing ‘lack of evidence’ against them for hatching the alleged conspiracy. The court also observed that the 1992 demolition was not ‘pre-planned.’
Judge SK Yadav said that demolition was spontaneous and not pre-planned. Ashok Singhal and other sangh parivar leaders wanted to save the structure as Ram Lalla statues were inside, the court said.
The court said a local intelligence report had cautioned in advance that unexpected sequence of events can take place on 6 December but it was left unattended. The Court said that there is no conclusive proof against accused.
The CBI court also stated that Hindu outfit VHP had played no role in the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Satish Pradhan and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das attended proceedings via video conferencing.
While BJP leaders have welcomed the verdict, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury called the CBI court’s judgment on Babri demolition case a ‘complete travesty of justice’.
He said all that were charged with criminal conspiracy to demolish the mosque have been acquitted and calls the verdict a ‘shame’.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut welcomed the verdict and said the decision was awaited for the last 28 years.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the entire Sena party welcomed the judgment 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 the Bhoomi Poojan of Ram Mandir. I congratulate all the leaders who were present there and who were involved in the protest, said Raut.