A court in Uttar Pradesh has delivered its verdict on the 28-year old Babri mosque demolition case on Wednesday acquitting all 32 accused including BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti.
Special CBI judge Surendra Kumar Yadav, while reading the 2000 page order, said the demolition was not pre-planned and evidences are not strong.
While most of the accused were present in court, three key accused BJP leaders skipped physical hearing and attended through video conferencing namely Uma Bharti who was tested positive for coronavirus, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi citing grounds of health and age.
The 32 accused face charges under several sections of the IPC, including criminal conspiracy, rioting , promoting enmity between different groups and unlawful assembly. The CBI produced 351 witnesses and 600 documents as evidence.
In 6 December 1992, Babri mosque was razed by thousands of Hindu activists in Ayodhya of Uttar Pradesh after a political rally organized by Hindu Nationalist organizations turned violent, igniting communal violence across the country.
The saffron veterans if convicted would face maximum imprisonment of five years. Charges were framed against 49 accused initially. 17 of them have died.
