A special court in Lucknow on Wednesday acquitted all 32 accused including veteran BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti. The incident had happened "suddenly and spontaneously", the court observed. It also said that the incident was not a pre-planned conspiracy and that there was no solid proof against the 32 acused. The court also remarked that Joshi and Advani had tried to stop the crowd.
In a significant judgement last year, the Supreme Court allotted the dispute site in Ayodhya for construction of a Ram temple, while calling the demolition of the mosque a violation of the rule of law. An alternative five-acre site was marked in the city for building a mosque.
Before the 2017 verdict of the apex court, two sets of cases were being heard in Lucknow and Raebareli. The trial of the first case involving unnamed 'kar sevaks' was going on in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relating to the eight VVIPs, including Advani, Joshi, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Ashok Singhal, Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Giriraj Kishore and Sadhvi Ritambhara, were going on in a Raebareli court. The apex court, had while restoring the charge of criminal conspiracy, directed clubbing of two cases relating to the demolition and had also ordered that the trial be concluded in two years.
Leave a comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *