Image: Praveen Jain / The Print 

A former judge of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court who last year acquitted all surviving accused in the criminal case involving the demolition of the Babri Masjid, has now been appointed the deputy Lok Ayukta of Uttar Pradesh. Surendra Kumar Yadav was sworn in on Monday by Lokayukta Justice (Retd.) Sanjay Mishra. Yadav’s appointment had been cleared by UP Governor Anandiben Patel when she signed a notification dated April 6.

Yadav, who originally hails from Jaunpur, has previously served in the state’s legal apparatus as Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Chief Judicial Majistrate (CJM) and Additional District Judge. He is however best known for the verdict in the criminal case surrounding the Babri Masjid demolition. This case was separate from the land dispute case heard in the Supreme Court.

Special CBI judge SK Yadav delivered the judgment that ran into over 2,000 pages and held that there was no criminal conspiracy behind the demolition. The court further held that the demolition wasn’t planned and that the accused persons were trying to stop the mob, and not inciting violence. The court further said that it could not probe the authenticity of the audio and video evidence provided by the CBI. It said that those who climbed the dome were anti-social elements.

This judgement was significant because the 32 accused included political heavyweights such as Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Sakshi Maharaj, Kalyan Singh, Vinay Katiyar among others. Three key accused; VHP’s Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore and Vishnu Hari Dalmia are deceased. 26 of the accused including Vinay Katiyar, Dharamdas, Vedanti, Lallu Singh, Champat Rai and Pawan Pandey were present in court when the judgment was delivered, though LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharati and Kalyan Singh appeared via video conferencing. Bharati had been diagnosed with Covid-19 just a few days before the judgement.

Interestingly, shortly after being acquitted in the Babri Masjid demolition case, one of the accused boasted in front of news channels of demolishing the mosque as well as future plans to attack other such mosques in the country.

The 62-year-old BJP member and former Chief of Shiv Sena’s North India faction, Jai Bhagwan Goyal, said that the group had always intended to demolish Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. They first attempted to do so in 1990 but were stopped by the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh. Goyal said they succeeded with their “unflinching commitment” in 1992.

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We always planned to demolish Babri Masjid: Jai Bhagwan Goyal