Babri Demolition Case: Allahabad High Court To Hear Plea Against Acquittal Of 32 Accused Including LK Advani On August 1

Saying that the revision petition against the acquittal of all 32 accused in the Babri Masjid Demolition case can be treated as a criminal appeal, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court fixed August 1 as the next date of hearing.

The Special CBI Court in 2020 acquitted all the 32 accused in the Babri Masjid Demolition case, including former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and BJP senior leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, and Kalyan Singh.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh said the revision petition by Ayodhya residents Haji Mahmood Ahmad and Syed Akhlaq Ahmad was not maintainable and directed that it be treated as criminal appeal.

The matter was earlier fixed for July 11, 2022 but the lawyers for the petitioners had sought an adjournment. The bench agreed to hear the matter on Monday but cautioned the lawyers that it would not adjourn the hearing any further.

The two petitioners have alleged that they were witnesses in the trial against the accused and that they were also the victims of the violence.

The Babri Masjid was demolished by karsevaks on December 6, 1992. The trial judge had refused to believe newspaper cuttings and video clips as evidence as the originals of the same were not produced, while the entire edifice of the case rested on these pieces of documentary evidence. The trial judge also had held that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could not produce any evidence that the accused had a meeting of mind with karsevaks who demolished the structure.

Assailing the findings of the trial court, the petitioners had pleaded that the court committed error in not convicting the accused as ample evidence was on record.

They said, "The trial judge did not appreciate the evidence of conspiracy in the right perspective."

The petition sought setting aside of the judgment of September 30, 2020.

(With PTI inputs)