Babri Masjid demolition case verdict today: All you need to know

A Special CBI court in Lucknow will pronounce its verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case on Wednesday nearly 28 years after the mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992. Out of the 49 accused, 17 died while 32 accused are still on trial. As the nation awaits the verdict on the case which left a deep imprint in the national politics, ETV Bharat explains the case in detail.

Lucknow: After a prolonged wait for 28 years, the historical verdict of India’s most debated Babri Masjid demolition case will be delivered on Wednesday.

Special CBI judge Surendra Yadav will deliver the verdict around 10.30 am. There are 49 accused in the case out of which 17 have died. Judge Surendra Yadav has directed all the 32 accused to remain present in the court during the pronouncement of the judgment.

Prominent among the accused are senior BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti. The presence of the accused in the case is quite intriguing owing to their age. Even, COVID-19 has also added tension. However, many important accused in the case, including Sadhvi Ritambhra, Vinay Katiyar and Pawan Pandey are expected to be physically present in the court.

Accused who are alive

L K Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Sudhir Kakkar, Satish Pradhan, Ram Chandra Khatri, Santosh Dubey, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Ram Vilas Vedanti, Vinay Katiyar, Prakash Sharma, Gandhi Yadav, Jai Bhan Singh, Lallu Singh, Kamlesh Tripathi, Brij Bhushan Singh, Ramji Gupta, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Champat Rai, Sakshi Maharaj, Vinay Kumar Rai, Naveen Bhai Shukla, Dharmadas, Jai Bhagwan Goyal, Amarnath Goyal, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Pawan Pandey, Vijay Bahadur Singh, R M Srivastava, Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, Omprakash Pandey and Acharya Dharmendra.

Accused who are no more

Paramhans Ramchandra Das, Vinod Kumar Vats, Ram Narayan Das, DB Rai, Laxmi Narayan Das, Hargovind Singh, Ramesh Pratap Singh, Devendra Bahadur, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Moreshwar Saway, Mahant Avaidyanath Mahamandaleshwar Jagdish Muni Maharaj, Baikunth Lal Sharma, Satish Kumar Nagar and Bala Saheb Thackeray.

How the case rolled out?

Historically, the High Court had granted permission to every citizen to participate in the ‘karsevak’, holy service scheduled on December 6, 1992. The court did not fix on the number of ‘karsevaks’ who can reach Ayodhya.

Due to unscrupulous and anti-social factors, the situation went out of control and the Babri Masjid was demolished. The FIR in the case was registered at 6.15 am in Ram Janmabhoomi police station in which lakhs of karsevaks were mentioned as accused without naming anyone.

After 10 minutes of filing the FIR, another case was registered at 6.25 am based on the complaint of Ganga Prasad Tiwari, the erstwhile in-charge of Ram Janmabhoomi police station. The element of politics was quite obvious in the second FIR. It was handed over to the local police for investigation. However, the case was transferred to the CB-CID on the second day. Then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh resigned following which President’s rule was imposed in the state.

The CB-CID investigated the case and filed the charge sheet. Thereafter, the entire case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI started investigating the case and subsequently filed the charge sheet against 49 people in the court. The hearing and trial in the case prolonged for two decades.

The hearing was conducted at two places – Rae Bareli and Lucknow. The case in which important leaders were the accused was heard at Rae Bareli and the second case with less prominent accused was heard in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court transferred the case from Rae Bareli to Lucknow where the hearing was concluded after hearing arguments for over two decades. Now the judgment will be delivered on September 30, 2020.

Read:Mosque in Ayodhya to be same size as Babri Masjid: Trust

Babri Masjid Demolition case chronology

*After the demolition of Babri Masjid structure on December 6, 1992, two FIRs were registered on the same day in Faizabad. The first FIR was against lakhs of unnamed karsevaks and the second FIR was against 49 including Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Bal Thackeray, Uma Bharti. They were accused of framing the conspiracy, which led to the demolition of Babri Masjid.

* In 1993, the Babri Masjid demolition case was transferred to the CBI. The case in which BJP and RSS leaders were named as accused was heard in the Rae Bareli court and the other one in the Lucknow court in which karsevaks were accused. In October, the CBI merged both the cases and filed a charge sheet in which Lal Krishna Advani and other leaders were accused of planning out the criminal conspiracy.

* In 1996, the UP Government issued the notification with regard to the trial of both the cases together. Thereafter, the CBI Special Court in Lucknow added the clause of criminal conspiracy in the case, which was challenged by Advani and many others in the court.

* On May 4, 2001, the Special CBI Court removed the charge of criminal conspiracy against Advani and others.

* In 2003, the CBI filed the charge sheet. The Rae Bareli court observed that evidence was not enough against L K Advani. The High Court intervened in the matter and the trial against him and others continued with the charge of criminal conspiracy.

* On May 23, 2010, the Allahabad High Court dropped the charge of criminal conspiracy against L K Advani and others. In 2012, the CBI went to the Supreme Court, which not only maintained the charge of criminal conspiracy but also instructed to expedite the trial in the case.

* In April 2017, the Supreme Court in its judgment instructed the Special Court of CBI to complete the hearing within two years. The case was being heard at Rae Bareli and Lucknow, but the Apex Court ordered the merging of both the cases and fastening of hearing and trial in Lucknow.

* From May 21, 2017, daily hearing began in the case. The statements of all accused were recorded in the court.

* The Supreme Court on May 8, 2020, ordered to complete the hearing by August 31, but the date was extended to September 30 due to COVID-19. Due to COVID-19, many accused including L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi recorded their statements through video conferencing.

* The CBI Special Court Judge Surendra Yadav completed the hearing of the Babri Masjid demolition case on September 1, 2020, after hearing all parties, witnesses, arguments and started writing the judgment on September 2. On September 16, Judge Surendra Yadav said that he would deliver the verdict on September 30 in the historical case.