Wed 30 September 2020:
The court had ignored all the evidence in Wednesday’s case, said Zafaryab Jilani, a lawyer for the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
A special court has acquitted all senior figures in India’s ruling party of their role in the demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu rioters, in a further court victory for the Hindu nationalist government over the bitterly disputed holy site.
The trial court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced the verdict in the 28-year-old case involving 32 accused, including former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, 92, – a one-time mentor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
All the 32 people were accused of criminal conspiracy and inciting a mob to tear down the Mughal-era mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya, located about 135km (84 miles) east of the state capital, Lucknow, in 1992.
The destruction of the building led to religious riots in India, which killed about 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. The incident is a pivotal moment in the deep fracturing of India along communal lines.
Other senior leaders among those acquitted on Wednesday are former ministers Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh.
Bringing the 28-year court case to a close, the judge ruled that the demolition of the mosque had been the spontaneous action of a crowd.
“Antisocial elements brought down the structure. The accused leaders tried to stop these people,” said Surendra Kumar Yadav, presiding at a special court hearing in the Indian city of Lucknow.
Eye Witness
Senior journalist Ruchira Gupta witnessed the incident 28 years ago. She testified before the government-appointed inquiry commission headed by Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan. The commission submitted its report 17 years later indicting senior leaders from the BJP.
“I was an eyewitness to all that happened. On the day of the demolition, I was on the terrace with BJP and RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] leaders like LK Advani, Uma Bharati, Murli Manohar Joshi, Mohan Bhagwat, among several others,” she told Al Jazeera.
“They were deliberately enticing crowds to demolish the mosque and kept raising the slogan ‘Give one push and demolish the mosque’. Is that not deliberate? There was no ambiguity in that slogan.
“On the day of the demolition, Advani kept announcing on microphone that security forces should not be allowed near the mosque. Is that not deliberate intent? Pravin Jain, a photographer, who was there on the day of the demolition said that he saw dress rehearsal of demolition of mosque. I have testified before Liberhan Commission and surprisingly CBI never asked me to testify which is proof that they had already decided the outcome.”
Reacting to the verdict, Advani said it was “a moment of happiness for all of us while Joshi said: “The truth has triumphed”.
Another defendant who was acquitted, Jai Bhagwan Goyal, said: “We had done nothing wrong. The whole of India is happy. Lord Ram’s temple is coming up in Ayodhya city.”
The Muslim community will challenge the acquittals in an appeals court.
The court had ignored all the evidence in Wednesday’s case, said Zafaryab Jilani, a lawyer for the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
“This is an erroneous judgement as it is against evidence and against law,” said Jilani. “We will seek remedy,” he told Reuters news agency.
Last year, India’s Supreme Court awarded the bitterly contested mosque site to Hindus, handing the BJP a victory to drive home its Hindu nationalist agenda.
