Ayodhya Residents Challenge Acquittal of Accused in Babri Case

A special CBI court had acquitted all 32 accused in the case, including LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.

(L-R) Murli Manohar Joshi, LK Advani and Uma Bharti had been accused on conspiring to demolish the Babri Masjid.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Two residents of Ayodhya on Friday, 8 January, moved the Allahabad High Court, challenging a Special CBI Court ruling that had acquitted all of the 32 accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, reported PTI.

The 32 accused include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran leaders LK Advani Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti.

MORE DETAILS

The petitioners, 74-year-old Haji Mahmood Ahmad and 81-year-old Syed Akhlaq Ahmad, have reportedly said in the petition that they were witnesses in the trial against the accused who have since been acquitted by the CBI Special Court. They added that the trial court committed an error not convicting them, despite ample evidence on record, reported PTI.

The petitioners have sought that the trial court be summoned, the judgment set aside and all accused be held guilty and punished in accordance with their guilt, according to PTI.

Zafaryab Jilani, the counsel for petitioners and an executive member of the All India Muslim Person Law Board, told PTI, that the two Ayodhya residents moved the High Court because the prosecuting agency CBI had not yet appealed against the judgment.

BACKGROUND

Twenty-eight years after the Babri Masjid was demolished, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday, 30 September, acquitted all 32 accused in the case, including former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti.

While acquitting the accused, the court that the CBI, despite producing 351 witnesses, had failed to prove that the demolition was premeditated.

Special Judge Surendra Kumar Yadav, whose retirement was on the same day, held that the audio and video evidence produced by the CBI were not clear and could not establish the key charge of conspiracy.