All 32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case, including BJP veterans LK Advani and MM Joshi, were on Wednesday acquitted by a special CBI court in Lucknow which said there was no conclusive proof against them.
Delivering the much-awaited verdict in the 28-year-old case, CBI judge SK Yadav did not accept newspapers and video cassettes as evidence.
The court also observed that late Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal wanted to save the structure because Ram idols were inside.
The case was related to the razing of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, which triggered riots for several months leaving nearly 2,000 people dead across the country.
The accused were also facing charges of having made assertions "prejudicial to national integration and injuring or defiling a place of worship". The other charges against them included indulging in "deliberate and malicious" acts intended to outrage religious feelings, uttering statements leading to public mischief, rioting and unlawful assembly.
Meanwhile, after the CBI court's acquittal, BJP MP Pragya Thakur's old statement about 'demolishing Babri' has gone viral.
During the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Pragya Thakur had said that she had gone to the then contested site and had taken part in the demolition. "Yes, I had gone there (Ayodhya), I had said it y'day too, not denying it. I had demolished the structure. I will go there & help in the construction of Ram temple, nobody can stop us from doing that, Ram rashtra hain, rashtra Ram hain," she had said.
"Why would we regret the demolition of the Babri Masjid? We are, in fact, proud of it. There were some waste products of the Ram temple and we removed it. This has awakened the self-respect of our country and we will construct a grand Ram temple," she had said in another interview.
(With PTI inputs)
