Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): A special court in Lucknow on Wednesday acquitted all the 32 accused, including BJP veterans L K Advani and MM Joshi, in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.
The Special CBI court observed that the demolition of the structure was not pre-planned, and that there was no conclusive proof against the accused in the case.
Meanwhile, high alert has been declared in Uttar Pradesh after the court's decision. While paramilitary forces have been deployed in sensitive districts, processions have also been disallowed.
The case relates to the razing of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
The Supreme Court had fixed September 30 as the deadline for the trial court to pronounce its judgment in the nearly three-decade old case.
The 32 accused include former deputy prime minister Advani, former Union ministers Joshi and Uma Bharti, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, during whose tenure the structure was pulled down, besides Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Rithambara.
The CBI, which went into the case, produced 351 witnesses and 600 documents as evidence before the court.
Charges were framed against 48 people, but 16 had died during the course of the trial.
Over two dozen of 32 accused were present. Advani (92), Joshi (86), Bharti (61), Singh (88), Nritya Gopal Das and Satish Pradhan were not present in court.
