Special judge said Babri Masjid demolition not pre-planned, done by anti-social elements: Lawyer Prashant Singh

The special CBI court held that the Babri Masjid demolition was done by anti-social elements and it was not pre-planned, said advocate Prashant Singh Atal on Wednesday.

The counsel for Sakshi Maharaj, Prashant Singh Atal, added that the court had acquitted all accused as there was not enough evidence against them.

"Today the Special CBI judge acquitted all 32 accused, it held that the accusations by CBI were wrong, it also held that the evidence against the accused was not adequate. The court commented that the demolition was done by anti-social elements, VHP or Sangh had no hand in it. The leaders had tried to stop the incident from taking place. The involvement of the accused, direct or indirect, was not found," Prashant Singh Atal told reporters here.

"About the photographs, the court said that the negatives were available but the CBI could not produce the negatives. Also the video recordings were fabricated and tampered with. CBI did not follow the provisions of 65 Evidence Act, that is why all accused were acquitted on the basis of lack of evidence," he added.

Another lawyer for the defendants, further said that the court had opined that "karsewaks who had assembled in Ayodhya were there for karsewa, it was not pre-planned. Further, the BJP leaders assembled there had tried to stop it from happening."

All accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case have been acquitted by the Special CBI court in Lucknow on Wednesday.

Earlier today, 26 of the 32 accused had arrived at the court premises to hear the court's verdict while six others, including senior BJP leader LK Adv, took part in it through video conferencing.

There were 49 accused in the case out of which 17 have passed away. Therefore, the court pronounced its judgement on the rest 32 accused, who had been asked to be physically present in the court.

Some of the high-profile personalities in the case included senior BJP leaders such as Lal Krishna Adv, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Kalyan Singh, among others. Apart from them, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Champat Rai, and others were also accused.

There were two cases registered in connection with the Ram Janmabhoomi temple-Babri Masjid dispute. The first was a title suit, whose judgement was pronounced by the Supreme Court on November 9, 2019, paving way for the construction of the Ram temple at the spot.

The Supreme Court had earlier extended till August 31 the tenure of special CBI Judge SK Yadav and directed him to complete the trial and deliver the judgment in the case by that time.

The apex court had later granted another month to the special CBI judge to pronounce the judgment in the case.

( With inputs from ANI )