Babri Masjid: Allahabad HC to hear petition against acquittal of demolition accused on Aug 1

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday posted August 1 as the date for further hearing of the petition challenging the acquittal of all accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case. A special CBI court here last year had acquitted all 32 accused persons, including former union cabinet ministers L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti.

The high court also directed that the revision petition, filed by Haji Mehboob and Syed Akhlaque, be changed to appeal.

The special court, in January 2021, had acquitted all accused, who were charged with criminal conspiracy, citing lack of evidence against them.

Special judge (CBI) S K Yadav, in his verdict, had said that the demolition of the disputed structure was not “pre-planned” and that it was the handiwork of some “anti-social elements”, who were among the thousands of “karsevaks”.

“There is not enough evidence to show that the demolition was pre-planned,” Yadav had remarked in the judgment.

The court had said the incident happened “spontaneously”, and while giving a clean chit to the accused, said they had in fact tried to stop the “karsevaks” from demolishing the structure.

Yadav had also said that the cassette of the speeches by the accused, which were introduced as evidence by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), was “tampered with” and was not “sealed”. The court also said that the negatives of the photographs of the accused were not furnished by the CBI.

The special court was hearing the cases pertaining to the demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, by thousands of 'karsevaks'.