Babri Masjid Demolition Verdict: All 32 accused including Lal Krishna Advani acquitted
Lucknow: Citing "lack of evidence", a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Lucknow on Wednesday acquitted all 32 accused in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh on December 6, 1992. BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Uma Bharti were among those acquitted in the case. Charges were framed against 48 people, but 16 had died during the course of the trial.
Notably, all the BJP veteran accused in the case skipped today's proceedings, However, other accused persons -- Vinay Katiyar, Dharamdas, Vedanti, Lallu Singh, Champat Rai, and Pawan Pandey -- were present in the court today.
Advani, Joshi, and co-accused Nritya Gopal Das are all above 80 years of age. On the other hand, Uma Bharti and another accused, Satish Pardhan, are in hospital. Twenty-six out of the 32 accused were present in the special court when the judgment was pronounced.
The Lucknow court said there was no conclusive proof against the accused, and defence lawyer KK Mishra said that "they have been acquitted for lack of evidence."
All 26 accused appeared before the court around 10.30 am. Outside the court, there was heavy police deployment and barricading. Wooden barricades were erected near most of the cross-sections in the vicinity of the court building, and movement of buses from the Kaisarbagh bus stand diverted. The accused persons were let in only after the cops verified their details.
Minutes after the Babri verdict was pronounced, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad arrived at the residence of BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani (92).
The demolition of the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992 was done illegally by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations in relation to the Ayodhya dispute.