A special court will give its verdict tomorrow in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are accused in the 1992 mosque demolition case. The court has directed all the 32 accused in the case to appear before it on the day of the pronouncement of the verdict.
The main accused are former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, former Union Ministers Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katwar, Sadhvi Ritambara, and senior leaders of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh. Of these, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti are undergoing treatment at various hospitals for COVID. He is therefore unlikely to appear in court at the time of pronouncing the verdict.
Kalyan Singh, the then chief minister of Rajasthan, faced trial after his term as governor of Rajasthan ended in September. Chambath Rai, general secretary of the Ram Janma Temple Trust, is also accused in the case. The apex court had directed that the trial be adjourned till September 30. The Supreme Court had initially given the trial court until August 31 to pronounce its verdict.
351 witnesses and 600 documents were produced in court. Forty-eight people were charged, but 17 died during the trial. The Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, by Karzai activists. More than 2,000 people were killed in the ensuing clashes. On December 16, 1992, the Liberhan Commission was appointed to investigate the demolition of the Babri Masjid. In October 1993, the CBI registered a case against top BJP leaders for conspiracy.