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From The Newsroom: All 32 accused in Babri case acquitted; kin of Hathras gang rape victim allege forceful cremation

Last Updated 30 September 2020, 12:34 IST

In your evening news brief, From the Newsroom, Twenty-eight years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid by thousands of 'karsevaks' at Ayodhya, a special CBI court in Lucknow acquitted all thirty-two accused; Family members of the gang rape victim alleged the Uttar Pradesh police had forcefully cremated mortal remains in the wee hours of Wednesday; Donald Trump, Joe Biden exchange barbs and accusations in first US presidential debate.

Here are the top stories of the day, September 30, 2020:

Twenty-eight years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid by thousands of 'karsevaks' at Ayodhya, a special CBI court in Lucknow acquitted all thirty-two accused, including senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh among others.

I spoke to Deccan Herald correspondent in Lucknow Sanjay Pandey about the court’s verdict. Here’s what he said.

The special judge also said that the cassette of the speeches of the accused persons, which were introduced as evidence by the CBI, were 'tampered with' and were not ‘sealed’. The court also said that the negatives of the photographs of the accused persons were not furnished by the CBI. It also refused to accept the newspaper cuttings as evidence. As many as 26 of the 32 accused persons were in the court when the verdict was pronounced. Six accused persons were granted exemption from a physical presence on medical grounds. There were in all 49 accused persons, in this case, to start with but 17 of them have died since then.

The CBI, which was handed over the investigation of the cases, had filed a single charge-sheet in all the cases. The Allahabad high court, upon being approached by the BJP leaders, ordered to drop proceedings against them as the state government had not issued a fresh notification transferring the trial of FIR no 198 in which their names had found mention to the special CBI court.

Family members of the gangrape victim alleged the Uttar Pradesh police had forcefully taken her mortal remains away from Safdarjung hospital on Tuesday night and cremated at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Congress has slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for the “forceful cremation" of the Hathras gangrape victim in the wee hours of Wednesday in the absence of her family members.

“A daughter of India is raped and killed, the facts are suppressed and the right to perform the last rites is taken away from the family. This is insulting and unjust,” former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and sought strict action against the accused, the Chief Minister's office said.

President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, met in Cleveland for the first of three debates ahead of the November 3 election, when Trump is seeking a second term in office.

Joe Biden called Republican Donald Trump a "clown" on Tuesday as tension boiled over in the pair's first televised debate. In what was a fiery encounter, the two exchanged barbs and accusations.

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(Published 30 September 2020, 12:18 IST)

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