Babri demolition case: 2 Ayodhya residents move petition challenging acquittal of all 32 accused

LUCKNOW: Two Ayodhya residents moved a revision petition in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Friday, challenging the order of the special CBI court which had acquitted all 32 accused, including former deputy PM LK Advani and other BJP leaders, in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

The Special CBI judge SK Yadav had delivered the order in the Babri Masjid demolition case on September 30, 2020, his last day in office. The mosque was demolished by a mob of karsewaks on December 6, 1992.

Two Ayodhya residents, Haji Mahboob (74) and Sayyad Akhlaq Ahmad (81), who were also parties in the Ayodhya title suit in the Supreme Court and CBI witnesses in the mosque demolition case, moved the petition on behalf of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) claiming that they were both witnesses and victims in the case pertaining to the demolition of the disputed structure.

They urged the High Court to summon the records from the trial court, hold all the 32 accused guilty and extend suitable punishment to them, setting aside the order of the special CBI court.

The revision petition was filed in the registry of the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court on Friday and it would be placed for hearing before the concerned bench on its rotation.

Prominent among those who were exonerated by the court in the mosque demolition case included former Union minister Dr MM Joshi, Uma Bharti, the then UP CM Kalyan Singh, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambhara and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Representing the two petitioners in the court, senior lawyer and convenor of Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani said that the two have filed the revision against the September 30, 2020 judgment of the special CBI court because the prosecuting agency did not file any appeal so far to challenge the verdict.

Contrary to the observations of the trial court, the revision petitioners pleaded that the trial court committed an error in not convicting the accused persons whereas ample evidence against them was on record. “The special trial judge did not appreciate the evidence of conspiracy in right perspective,” alleged the petitioners .

In fact, while delivering the verdict in the demolition case, the trial judge had refused to believe newspaper cuttings and video clips as evidence as the originals of the same were not produced by the prosecuting agency CBI. However, the entire case was built up on those pieces of documentary evidence. The trial judge also held that the CBI could not produce any evidence that the accused
had a meeting of minds with karsewaks who had demolished the structure.