Less than a year after the Supreme Court pronounced its historic verdict on the Ram Janmbhoomi dispute in favour of Ram Lalla, the presiding deity, and as the result was in favour of Hindus, a Lucknow-based special CBI Court on Wednesday acquitted 32 leaders and Hindutva ideologues in the Babri Masjid demolition case, whom the media relentlessly ran a vicious campaign against for 28 long years, claiming that they were solely responsible for the demolition of the disputed structure. Now, the Court, in no uncertain terms, has ruled that the demolition of the Masjid was not pre-mediated, therefore, the question of there existing a conspiracy to bring the Masjid down was out of bounds.
In his 2,300-page verdict, Special Judge SK Yadav said the CBI could not produce any conclusive proof against the accused. The verdict also noted that late VHP leader Ashok Singhal wanted to save the structure because Lord Ram idol was inside. Those accused, who now stand acquitted from the fallacious and motivated charges include former deputy Prime Minister and BJP veteran LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, among others.
VHP leaders– Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Rithambara– have also been acquitted by the court. Champat Rai, the general secretary of the trust in charge of constructing the grand temple, was also among the accused who was respectfully acquitted yesterday. As per the Tribune, when Special Judge Yadav entered the courtroom at 12.10 pm, 26 of the 32 accused were present along with their lawyers. As the judge pronounced acquittal of all the accused, some of them shouted “Jai Shri Ram”.
The special judge said that there was no evidence against those accused, while also saying that the CBI could not produce any conclusive proof against all those accused. On 6th December 1992, the disputed structure at Ayodhya, which was made barbarically by destroying a grand Ram Mandir, was brought down by a group of enthusiastic karsevaks, who in the rush of the moment, took to demolishing the structure.
While the construction of a grand Ram Mandir has finally begun at Ayodhya, the judgement by the special CBI court, acquitting all those accused of the demolition of the disputed structure comes as a vindication for the massive Ram Janmbhoomi reclamation movement, which in a way also contributed in ending the hegemony of one entity/dynasty in Indian polity, and made India a genuinely bipolar polity, with those in power being made to realise that the voices and demands of Hindus cannot be stifled in India.
